Something New
by Itaweasel-hime
Summary: Itachi has only one problem, one that is sure to break Sakura's heart. Sakura knows what she has to do though, even though it hurts, she knows she has to let him go. Otherwise, she would never be able to forgive herself.
1. Chapter 1

Itachi sat quietly in his desk at the back of the classroom, playing lightly with his lip piercing. He had learned early on in Kakashi's class that his sensei had the tendency to arrive at least ten minutes late every day. Not that he really cared, this class, no, this school was boring as hell. Ever since the school year began, everything had just been too easy for Itachi. Everything they taught at this school was already known by the Uchiha, even in the advanced placement classes.

After a good fifteen minutes of Itachi mulling over how pathetic his life was becoming, and how he should have just graduated a year early, Kakashi-sensei entered the room. The classroom quieted down and turned its attention to the silver haired man, but mostly, to the short pinkette standing next to him. This quickly caught Itachi's attention, as pink hair was very unnatural. He quickly decided that it couldn't be her natural hair color, but he remained peaked with interest, as it was against school policy to dye your hair. She had to be bold, coming to an expensive private school looking like that, he mused. The class was muttering comments on her appearance, so she looked down to her feet.

Itachi took that moment to inspect the rest of her. She had a black ribbon tied into her hair, a bow sitting prominantly on the crown of her head. Her eyes were a shocking jade color, which somehow matched nicely with her bubblegum pink hair, he noted. Like every other girl in the school, she wore the black skirt, white blouse and red tie that entailed in the school uniform. A pair of black socks reached up just above her knees, and she wore a pair of beat up all-stars for shoes. This could also be considered bold, as most students wore black dress shoes, Itachi thought. She sure as hell has guts, that much was obvious.

"Joining us from her school in Japan is Sakura Haruno. Please welcome her here as a new student at our school." Kakashi-sensei cleared is throat.

"Thank you for welcoming me into your class." she bowed. She could tell that the whole class was wondering the same thing, how she could be japanese and yet had features that said the opposite. Sakura hated those blank stares. She had gotten them in japan, and now america too?

"Yes, thank you Sakura. You may take the seat next to Itachi, in the back." Kakashi-sensei told her boredly, indicating with his finger the location he had placed her in. She nodded her head and went to the seat he had assigned her to.

Itachi's eye twitched at the mentioning of him, and of the seat next to him. Now he would get attention he was oh-so-desperately trying to avoid, because the stares drawn to her would no doubt be directed at him as well. It was bad enough he actually had to go to school, but the fact that people were going to expect something of him was worse. He knew how teachers worked, they would place some sort of attraction near a certain student so that said student could be pulled more into the class. Now they were pulling that crap on him.

Sakura avoided the looks of criticism she recieved and sat at her new desk. She glanced at the boy next to her, who glared back at her blatantly. Great, I start at a new school and someone already hates me, she thought, aggravated emmencely. Of course she wouldn't already know that the stoic older boy before her hated perhaps everyone in the entire school.

"Did I do something wrong, _Itachi_-san?" The short pixie like girl sneered in Japanese.

"We're in America. Speak in English, _Sakura_-chan." He replied equally snobbishly and in perfect Japanese. Sakura felt her temper flair at the way he said her name in such a familiar tone. Who was he to call her by her given name? The only reason she had done so was because she didn't know his family name. Sakura couldn't help but to hate all the stupid, arrogant, rich kids she was going to have to endure for the next three years. They had no idea how hard life could be for some people, how hard life was for her. They just went on their merry way, spending all the money in their pockets as the went. Stupid preppy Americans.

"Don't talk to me like we're so familiar. Call me by my family name, Haruno." she said heatedly, continuing in her Japanese. She felt her face beginning to redden in anger, a sign to anyone who knew her that she was on the verge of eruption. Itachi didn't know her though, so he continued without a second thought.

"Then maybe you should call me Uchiha-san, or better yet, Uchiha-senpai_." _he told her as his lips pulled up ever so slightly in the corners. Just from observing her, he could easily tell that she was an under class man, no more than a sophomore. He had to admit, she must have been pretty smart to be accepted into an advanced class made for seniors. There was no way that she was smarter than he was, nobody was.

"Is there something you would like to share with the rest of the class, Itachi? Sakura?" Kakashi-sensei drawled boredly, his eyes pointedly glancing at Itachi's repulsed expression. Everyone in the room made a point in looking back at the two who had been bickering in perfect Japanese. A few of the guys snickered, as it was well known that Itachi _never_ interrupted the class by something as inconsequential as talking, let alone with a girl. A few girls towards the front of the room giggled to themselves, the idea of Itachi talking completely ludicrous to them.

"As a matter of fact, I was just asking Itachi if he would be willing to show me to my next class, as he speaks Japanese too." She told Kakashi-sensei

innocently, talking in English once more. Sakura knew that Itachi was just the kind of person who didn't like to involve himself with anyone or anything, so volunteering him to help her would be just the thing to grate on his nerves. It was unlike her to purposefully try to irritate someone, but for some reason she couldn't define, she felt the need to do so with him. Itachi shot her a furious look, warning her to not drag him into anything extracurricular, but she ignored it.

" Actually, that is a good idea. Itachi, show her to her next class after this. Being able to talk to someone in Japanese will make Sakura's transition here much easier for her, not to mention much more comfortable." Kakashi-sensei told Itachi. He blanched at the very idea of walking down the halls with the pixie of a girl, even worse, helping her. Knowing there would be no escape, he gave the silver haired teacher a tight, quick nod in agreement.

The class returning its attention to the teacher and away from Itachi, the dejected boy slumped his head onto his desk in complete exhaustion. He glared needlessly at the girl who was paying strict attention to the lesson, unable to ignore the smug look on her face. Kakashi-sensei was going on and on about the civil war, something that Itachi had been repetitively been taught throughout his years of schooling. Naturally, he found it boring, like everything else.

Part of him simply couldn't believe he had been manipulated so easily, and by someone who he had just met. The only people who were somewhat capable of coming close to bothering him like that were those in his immediate family, and mostly his younger brother, at that. It didn't matter though, there was no way Itachi was going to let someone, especially the little pinkette next to him, get to him again. He would do as Kakashi-sensei had instructed, and take her to her next class, but after that he was going to ignore Sakura like he did the rest of the world.

His mind made up, he straightened his back in his chair, running his fingers through his raven hair and playing with his lip piercing again. Doing so was a habit he had developed after spending one too many classes listening to a boring teacher lecture to no end. Most people wondered how Itachi managed to receive the top grades in the class because he never bothered to pay attention, but nobody else in the class bothered to study as crazily as he did.

Throughout the duration of the class, Sakura was having a hard time not letting her eyes graze over the unruly boy next to her. Despite his bad-ass attitude, she couldn't deny the fact that he could be considered good looking by most. Sakura found it amusing that he showed off his rebellion, even in the way of his appearance. His long, black, silky hair was drawn back into a ponytail that sat from the nape of his neck to the middle of his back. As if the shadows under his obsidian eyes weren't dark enough, he wore thick eyeliner, pronouncing his I'm-dead-but-still-alive-emo style. His ears and lip were both pierced, and she didn't fail to notice how he played distractedly with his lip ring out of absolute boredom. And to top that all off, his school uniform was at least one size smaller than what most boys wore, making it overly tight and show the shape of his slender body. It wasn't as if he lacked muscles though, it was just that he wasn't bulky.

The worst part of it all was his hair, Sakura couldn't help but to think. It was so silky and naturally shiny, while it took hair product after hair product for her to get her own locks to stop frizzing. Why was she jealous of his hair? He might as well have been the devil's incarnate. Just from their short conversation, she already knew he was self centered and arrogant. His pride was too much to overbear.

Angry with herself for having been distracted by the grumpy older boy next to her, Sakura began writing down every word Kakashi-sensei said. American boys were trouble, that much she knew, and she wasn't going to let one get in the way of her studies, no matter how good looking he might be. She came here to study and go to a university, not to check out the guys.

The bell rang, indicating that the class period was over, and that it was time for everyone to move on to the next. Itachi stood stiffly after putting away his classroom supplies. He knew that he wasn't going to get out of walking the girl to her next class, and the ridicule that was guaranteed to come along with it. He watched as the girl packed her bag and then stood next to him. She looked up at him expectantly, not sure if she should just start walking or wait for him to lead.

"Well? Tell me where your next class is." he said bossily in Japanese. The pink haired girl looked down at the schedule in her hand. She could already tell that he was going to be as difficult as he could manage. At least he had the curtsy to speak in Japanese.

"I have second period English with Jiraya-sensei." She replied. He began to walk her through the hallways, ignoring the gawking stares. He wasn't sure why he had grabbed her wrist, but he told himself that she would get lost in the throngs of people if he didn't. Then he would have to look for her, and he really didn't want to go through the trouble.

"Teme, isn't that your brother over there?" A certain blonde boy pointed out to his friend.

"I told you to stop calling me teme, dobe. And who cares about my brother? He's just a stuck-up know it all." The raven haired boy responded, not even bothering to look up from the message he was reading off of his phone. His brother was not someone he wanted to deal with. Itachi was always the perfect one, always got the perfect scores, always said the perfect things. Sasuke was just the shadow behind his older brother, at least in his parent's opinion.

"Well, he's dragging a pink haired girl in the direction of our next class." Naruto muttered. He already knew from Sasuke that Itachi wasn't the type of person to commune with people, so it was unusual to see him pulling the girl through the crowds. Sasuke was simply shocked to see his antisocial brother helping some girl to her class. There was no way he was doing it out of wanting to, so he must have been forced into it. After looking at the girl, there was no way he could picture her making him help her in such a public way. He must have actually fallen for someone, Sasuke mused. Getting a good look at her slim bodice and strangely fitting features, he couldn't blame his brother for having any possible attachment to the girl. She had a type of bizarre beauty that was incomparable to other girls.

Sasuke couldn't begin to comprehend why he had just thought that a girl he didn't know was actually beautiful. Maybe she had a nice body and was easy to the eye, but if she knew his brother, that meant she was untouchable. Hell, she might be the same kind of know-it-all that his brother was.

The two boys followed behind Sakura and Itachi, though unable to sense the strain between them. Sakura clearly did not like the way Itachi was dragging her to her next class, and he was either too oblivious to notice, or he noticed and just didn't care. His pointedly livid aura was causing too many stares for her preference, and she couldn't figure why he was so angry. Sure, she had practically forced him into assisting her, but was that really a good enough reason for him to be so enraged?

"Onii-san, what are you doing in front of my class?" Sasuke's impatient voice rang out. Of course his trusty sidekick had to be following along as well, Itachi thought sardonically. His younger brother was nothing short of a pain in his side, and now even at school he was unavoidable.

"Why, I was merely escorting Sakura here to her next class. Does that intervene with your personal agenda?" The emotionally drained boy asked silkily, his voice dripping with sarcasm. The two brothers glowered relentlessly at each other, inducing a thick awkward atmosphere to settle around them. Sakura glanced back and forth from Itachi to whoever his younger brother was. Their not so friendly relationship with each other was more than apparent, and she didn't like the uncomfortable sensations they were creating. Unable to stop herself, she attempted to break the tension by speaking.

"Thank you for showing me where my class was, Itachi-san. I think I can handle to walk inside the class on my own." She chirped in Japanese. Both boys looked at her, neither of them liking the fact that she had just stopped their staring contest. Naruto however, perked up at the sound of her voice. A foreign girl, huh, he thought slyly.

"I can speak Japanese too," he smirked. "Konnichiwa, Sakura." He was trying to impress her, but she wasn't going to fall for it. Sakura could speak in English almost as well as she could in Japanese. It was certainly better than her Spanish, that was for sure.

"I _can _speak English you know." Sakura told the blonde boy rather bluntly. She saw his face drop in disappointment, and instantly felt bad for being so rash. "Nice try anyway." She added, hoping he wouldn't take her words too hardly.

"Very well, Sakura-_chan_. I suppose I will see you in AP history tomorrow." Itachi said in Japanese, drawling out the suffix to her name. Her eyes thinned at his familiarity with her name, and if it weren't for the fact that she had an audience, she would have yelled at him for talking to her so comfortably. Again.

"Later, Itachi-_kun_." She answered him in the same mocking tone of voice. Itachi looked infuriated at how she had said his name like he was some sort of child, but before he could do anything about it, she had turned on her heels and entered Jiraya-sensei's classroom. The only person who ever dared to use that suffix with him was his mother, and even she wouldn't get away with it if she wasn't so downright scary. Sasuke felt content with how the scene had rolled out before him, and he promptly followed her into the classroom, Naruto close behind him. For him to have found a girl who was brave enough to face down his brother made him happy for reasons he couldn't explain. Thankfully, he would never have to.

After the embarrassing business of having to introduce herself to another room full of curious strangers, she found herself enjoying Jiraya-sensei's class. Because it wasn't a native English speaker, the school system hadn't allowed her to take the advanced placement class, but she was slightly glad for this. With the luck she had, she would probably end up in another excruciating class with Itachi, as he seemed to be the kind of person to be in only advanced classes.

Jiraya-sensei was, in Sakura's opinion, a little to much on the perverted side of things, but it made his classroom environment different, and therefore, interesting. The way he slipped in inappropriate remarks to the lesson often caused to class to roar with laughter, Sakura along with them. The only one who didn't seem to be joining in was a certain black haired boy with facial features all too similar to his brother's.

Sasuke's mind kept wandering endlessly around the topic of the pink haired mystery girl, positioned near the front of the class. Her laugh jingled along with every other student's, but hers seemed to stand out to him. He wasn't sure how he was able to pinpoint her voice amongst the rest, but somehow he had, and he found it to be irritably sweet in sound. This is completely absurd, he told himself. He hadn't yet even talked to the girl, and he was forming a crush on her. The fearless act of her calling his brother Itachi-kun had most definitely caught his attention, but it was mostly out of surprise that someone wasn't scared of him. It didn't matter though, if Itachi had any intentions involving the girl, he wouldn't get in the way. Itachi wasn't the kind of person to get in the way of, he was simply put, unstoppable. Itachi always got his way, no matter what it was about. If Sasuke stepped in the way, he knew he would be quickly cut down, and he didn't want to endure that kind of torture from his brother.

The class ended, and Sakura had to find her way to her next class, something that wasn't easy now that she didn't have any help. She hated to admit it, but it had been better when she walked to Jiraya-sensei's class with Itachi then how she was walking alone to her class with Kurenai-sensei. Though he had been a complete ass about it, Itachi's presence had scared people off, while now that she was alone, she had to fight her way to Kurenai-sensei's classroom. Another plus was that she wouldn't have gotten lost if someone had been kind enough to help her.

Itachi sat in the back of yet another tedious class. It was another advanced class, mathematics with Kurenai-sensei, and like everything else he was taking, too easy. He played with his lip ring, staring at the clock sitting on the wall, willing it to move faster. Not even a second before the tardy bell rang, a pink haired, green eyed girl dashed through the door, only just making it on time. Just my luck, I have another class with Sakura, he thought blandly. He poured himself over his finished work, trying his best to be invisible. If she was anything like he thought she was, she would take the seat next to him just to get on his nerves.

She introduced herself to the class, this time not bothered by the stares she recieved for her pink hair. Sitting down at an empty seat in the front, Itachi could have sworn he had heard her mutter 'take a picture, it'll last longer,' in Japanese. Amused by her irritation, he watched her take out a notebook and mechanical pencil in preparation for the class. It was only when he had been asked a question by Kurenai-sensei that he realized he had been staring at Sakura. Thankfully, Itachi had been prepared to answer her, otherwise it would have been known that he wasn't paying attention to his teacher, but to the new girl, of all people.

"C equals the square root of forty-nine; seven." He replied to his teacher without missing a beat.

"Correct, but please try to pay a little bit more attention, okay Itachi?" She asked him, her voice pained. Groaning inwardly, he gave a swift jerked nod in return. Damn Kurenai-sensei's perceptive, Itachi thought, slightly irked. She was the only teacher who ever bothered to tell him to pay attention in class, even though he had the top grades. It wasn't that his other teachers didn't notice him blankly staring into space as they went on with their lectures, it was just that they all knew he would get the best scores no matter what he did in the middle of class.

Sakura could feel someone glaring at her back, and she didn't have to turn around to know who it was. With the luck she harbored, Sakura hadn't been to surprised that Itachi was in this class with her, she wouldn't have been surprised if they shared half of their classes. Just because he had the same class as her again, didn't mean he had the right to stare at her with such fury. She had half the mind to turn around and tell him to stop looking at her, but she knew the ending result would be utterly chaotic. He would talk to her in his maddeningly perfect Japanese, probably insult her somehow, and cause her to erupt.

Yelling at a fellow student on the first day of a new school was not the best way to get to know people, especially the teachers. First impressions were vital, and having such rebelliously colored hair didn't help her with that. Sakura couldn't blame people for judging her, it wasn't like they knew she had some screwed up gene or something, but it only served to make things harder for her. So because of her confused genes she had linked Itachi staring at her with, Sakura suppressed the need to yell at him. He wasn't worth the trouble he would get her in.

He could tell that Sakura was anxious by the way that she tapped her feet noiselessly on the tile classroom floor, but Itachi couldn't figure out why. There was no way she could tell he was watching her so attentively, right? What was more, why did he care if his watching her bothered Sakura? Even more important, why was he watching her nervously take notes on Kurenai-sensei's lesson in the first place? She was just some new girl, and as infuriating as she was, she was completely insignificant to his life. She was just one amongst one thousand that he was going to school with. Someone he would hopefully never see again after he graduated and moved as far away as possible. She didn't matter at all.

Kurenai-sensei swiped her eyes across her room of students, finding that most of her students were hard a work with the equations she had given them to solve. All but Itachi were doing their assignment, which was unusual for him. His forehead was scrunched together as if he was deep in thought, his lips pressed together in frustration, and his eyes were clearly set on the new girl. She had half the mind to go right up to his desk and demand why he was looking at her so thoughtfully, but as a teacher, she had no right to intervene with a student's personal life. Itachi's eyes shut in distress, and he turned to his paper before his teacher could pry on him.

Even before the bell rang, Itachi gathered up his things and returned them to his bag, so that when it did ring, he could just stand up and leave. Sakura had noticed his desperation for him to get out of the class, to get away from her. This idea made her smile smugly, even though she knew her presence couldn't be the reason for him to want to leave so badly. She couldn't assume that she was so distracting to him, it would just be self centered and ignorant. Sakura did not matter to him, and Itachi sure as hell did not matter to her. It was stupid to think otherwise.

Before the pink haired pixie of a girl could shanghai him into helping her for a second time, Itachi made a dash for the door, causing much confusion for Sakura. Sure, it would have been nice to have someone more familiar with the school layout to guide her to her class, but she hadn't really been planning on asking him again. He was the moody kind of boy that everyone avoided, and though this made it easier to navigate through a crowded hallway, he was not someone she wanted to be associated with if she wanted to make some friends here.

After sighing in discontent, she left Kurenai-sensei's class for chemistry with Asuma-sensei. She didn't know the way, so she found her self wandering again, until she saw the boy with spiky black hair and smoothed bangs in his face. He was alone this time, the blond kid must have had a different class then him, and she had almost walked up to him to ask where the chemistry room was. Then she remembered the awful tension that had rose between him and his brother, and she got the impression that though the two brothers seemed to hate each other, they were probably more similar then they thought. He would be just as helpful as his older sibling, in other words, not very helpful at all.

When she finally managed to reach her class, she saw Itachi's brother sitting amongst the other students, and wanted to kill herself for not asking him for help. For what felt like the millionth time that day, she introduced herself to the class, and took whatever seat she found available. Some faces were familiar, like there was a blonde haired girl next to a dark purple haired girl, both of them giggling together. She was sure that they had been in her English class, so she was surprised to see someone her age in the class, as it was supposed to be advanced for seniors. Her eyes glazed the class one more time before sitting at her desk, and she saw, with frustration, none other than Itachi sitting in the far back corner of the room. His expression was livid.

To Itachi, it was bad enough he had a class with his younger brother, but now he was sharing a class with both of him and Sakura. She was becoming impossible avoid, and though he knew she wasn't in his classes intentionally, Itachi did nothing short of blame her for her interference. She was more distracting to him then his brother had been when they were younger and Sasuke had always demanded his attention. Hell, Itachi would have an easier time ignoring Orochimaru dancing around in a ballerina tutu then the short pink haired girl who was swarming his thoughts so infuriatingly.

There was only one seat still available in the class, and Sakura was thankful that it wasn't next to the fuming boy, but instead next to the blonde girl from her English class. Sakura quietly sat down, ignoring the looks of distaste she got from the girl.

"Who said little miss japan could sit next to _me_? I bet she can't even speak English." she sneered to her purple haired friend. The girl only nodded in agreement out of fear, that much Sakura could tell.

"I think I was the one who said I could sit next to you." Sakura told her innocently, even though the question hadn't been really directed towards her. The platinum blonde just looked at her in shock, both from the fact that she had understood her, and because the new girl had just talked back to her. Both girls turned to the front as Asuma-sensei began a lecture on the periodic table.

Sakura randomly doodled on her notebook, ignoring the glaring blonde, the mesmerized spiky black haired boy, his angered older brother, and only barely listened to the lesson Asuma-sensei was giving. She had already heard it all before, and saw no point in going over it with the class again. The bell rang, and Sakura quickly retreated to her locker to pick up her bento. The familiar box now in her hands, she searched the campus for a place she could eat with no interruptions.

Itachi stalked off to where he often went to hide during lunch, and was horrified to find that Sakura had found it before he could have gotten there. His bad day was going from bad to worse. The short girl sat on the tiled floor, an earphone in each ear, a continuous blare of drums and guitar disrupting the air around her. She sat with her knees drawn to her chest, showing too much of her silky white legs, and she was eating a bento. As soon as Itachi walked up to her, she looked up to send him a glare. Was he going to bother her during lunch?

"You're in my spot." he stated cooly. There was no way he was going to let her get away with it. As soon she heard his words, a more defined look of anger crossed her face. It wasn't like he owned the place, so why should she have to move to make way for him?

"I don't see your name on it." she finally said, her voice calm, despite her apparent anger. Itachi's eyebrow twitched with annoyance.

"Well, it is." he said, rather lamely. What was he supposed to do, pick her up and toss her? He obviously didn't want her there, and she wasn't taking the hint. He wasn't going to share his spot with anyone, even if they did manage to get him to do something.

"Well, I guess that's your problem. I'm not moving." Sakura retorted childishly. She continued to eat her bento, hoping that if she ignored him, he would just disappear. When he didn't, she grew more irritated. He sat down next to her, thinking maybe she would leave if he did so. She turned up the volume on her ipod, making it impossible for her to hear him anymore. He took out his own ipod, and started to blast his own music, which in the opinion of everyone he knew, was dark and depressing. Bring on the emo-ness, he chuckled to himself.

Anyone who had seen the two teenagers sitting together (well not together, they just so happened to be sitting within three feet of each other), they would have thought that they were friends. They simply ignored each other's existence. As soon as the bell rang, Sakura stood and quickly went to her next class, praying to god that Itachi wouldn't be in it. Thankfully, someone up in heaven must have heard her pleas and he wasn't. Sasuke, and his obnoxious friend Naruto, were.

"Ne, Sakura-chan~ can I sit next to you?" Naruto flirted openly. She smirked, finding it cute how he had used the suffix '-chan' with her name, even though he didn't speak japanese. That, she supposed, earned him a seat next to her.

"Sure, Naruto-kun." She replied, her english perfect. The boy smiled victoriously, shooting an all-knowing glance at his friend, who Sakura had almost forgotten was there. He seemed to be just as silent as his older brother, she mused.

"What about Sasuke-kun? Do you want to sit with me too?" Sakura addressed the boy in her teasing Japanese. The spiky haired boy looked at her in confusion, not getting that she had just been flirting with him.

"I suppose so," he nonchalantly answered. He took the seat on her right, as Naruto had already the seat to her left. The class slowly filed in, and the three of them sat together in an awkward silence. What do you say to a complete stranger? Sasuke didn't want to seem to be like the silent/scary/emo boy his brother was, but as if by nature, he acted the same way.

The only time Sakura saw Itachi in the remainder of the day was in the hallway on the way to her next, and thankfully, last period. They had glared daggers at each other, neither of them seemed to have forgotten lunch. This action did not go unnoticed, and people who had seen their cold interaction became slightly afraid of the new girl. She didn't look scary, in fact, she looked sort of frail, but for all they knew, she could be some sort of karate black belt.

It was her first day, and Sakura already decided that she hated the school transportation system they offered in America. It was rather breezy, and there she stood, with several other students, waiting for the bus to arrive. On they way to his car, Itachi saw her amongst many, waiting for the bus. He was glad to see her tortured in the wind, she had been torturing him through almost the whole day.

After parking his black Audi TT in the driveway, he silently went upstairs to his room, ignoring the plate of cookies on the table. The cookies were just another lure his mother would occasionally attempt to use on him into staying in the kitchen and not being antisocial in his room. She would undoubtedly try to find out how his day went, or if he made any new friends, or something along those lines. The only thing that would tempt him into staying downstairs was if she had placed a batch of dango on the table instead of the chocolate chip cookies, and she didn't know that. If she did, she would have put his favorite sweets out for him everyday.

Feeling rather moody, as he always did after a long day at school, Itachi closed the door to his bedroom and threw the album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge by one of his favorite emo bands, My Chemical Romance, into his CD player. He tossed his backpack onto his black colored bed, and lounged at his desk. Smirking at the darkly sung words, Itachi pulled out his secret sketchbook to finish a drawing he had begun earlier. He had two sketchbooks in his possession, one that he left out in the open, one he hid from sight. His mother knew he drew, but not exactly what he liked to draw. In the hidden sketchbook, most of the drawings were either too raunchy or too morbid for a mentally sane person, and were enough for his mother to start sending him to a shrink every week. Just what he would need, another crazed adult breathing down his neck, trying to push him into a future they saw fit for him. Hence the second sketchbook, filled with drawings of different still-lives, or portraits of strangers, or even the ever rare sketch of an anime character. It kept his mother from snooping about more than she did, that much was certain.

"Iiitaaachiiii!" he heard his mother's voice call over the violent guitar solo playing. Sighing, he finished the shading on a certain feather of a crow he was drawing, then returned it to it's respective hiding place, back into the hidden compartment he made in his desk. Just as one of his favorite songs started, he opened the door.

"What?" he answered grudgingly.

"Get down here, I'm not going to yell across the house!" His mother told him in a voice that left no room for arguments. Muttering strings of colorful words under his breath, he shut off the music and trudged to the living room downstairs. There sat his mother on one of the couches, and a cranky Sasuke next to her.

"Yes, Kaa-san?" Itachi mumbled just loud enough so that she could hear him.

"You, your brother and I are going to go introduce ourselves to the new neighbors down the road. So get changed out of your uniform, we're leaving in ten minutes." She said firmly, though he could tell what the underlining meaning of her words were. She wanted him to dress up as the perfect little son she wished he was. Like hell was he going to do that. After nodding his head to show he grasped her implications, Itachi returned to his room.

Without giving much thought to his wardrobe, he pulled on a pair of black skinny jeans with a studded belt and a black slipknot t-shirt he had recently acquired at his favorite, friendly neighborhood Hot Topic outlet. He went into the bathroom he shared with Sasuke and ran a comb through his long silky hair. Catching his reflection in the mirror, he chuckled darkly, knowing just the thing to top it all off. Itachi grabbed the black eyeliner he had left out that morning and reapplied it in a thick layer, not bothering to fix the smudges from his application early in the day **(A/N: I don't care what anyone thinks, eyeliner on a guy is hot!!!!)**, as it created a nice grungy look.

Seeing his older brother's appearance once he had rejoined them downstairs, Sasuke smirked to himself. It wasn't precisely what his mother had wanted to see her son in, that was for sure. Their mother frowned slightly, but knowing better than to say anything, led her two sons out of the door. Their short walk down the street was quick and silent, much to everyone's gratification. Flanked by Itachi and Sasuke, and having the fresh batch of cookies that were so unappealing to Itachi before hand held in front of her, Mikoto rang the door bell.

It was quickly answered, and by a very displeased and surprised Haruno Sakura.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you everyone who has read my first chapter! I don't know how often I'll be able to update, because of school... and because I already have a few chapters typed up before I decided to publish the story. After I get all of my finished chapters out, I'll probably only be able to update every two-three weeks (please don't kill me!!!!!). Anyway, here's my second installment of Something New.**

Sakura looked at her visitors, shocked to find both Itachi and Sasuke standing behind a woman she assumed to be their mother.

"Itachi-kun, Sasuke-kun, are you two stalking me?" She finally broke the silence. Itachi looked completely horrified by the idea, which was what she had wanted to get from him, while Sasuke looked like he could consider taking up stalking her. Mikoto, their mother, meanwhile looked both pleased and surprised that Itachi already knew the new girl.

"Itachi-kun, since you already know our new neighbor, why don't you introduce me?" His mother asked sweetly, though he knew what she was really saying. 'Itachi, tell her my name, and I hope you're planning on behaving yourself.' It was all in her tone of voice.

"Sakura, this is my kaa-san, Kaa-san, this is Haruno Sakura." he said under his breath, sounding rather pained. Sakura hid the smile threatening to show itself, it was amusing how the boy she had been infuriated with all day bent to his mother's will so easily. Sasuke was also enjoying the sight of his older brother being abused by his mother, as it was rare for Itachi, him and his mother to go anywhere together, and even if they did, Itachi would always stand off to the side, ignoring and being ignored.

"Why don't you come in? I think my kaa-san is making a pot of tea as it is." The pinkette invited, much to Mikoto's pleasure, and Itachi's despair. They entered the house, a certain furious emo uchiha glaring blankly at his hostess. He clearly did not want to go inside her house, but as both Sasuke and his mother already had, it looked like he wasn't going to get much of a choice in the matter. Grumbling to himself, Itachi slipped off his overly used sneakers and entered the house.

Inside, it was warm and soft, the decorations mostly all floral, and a bright cheerful color. To him, it was absolute torture, which was half of the reason Sakura had invited them in. She was simply enthralled with how out of place he looked and most likely felt. Mikoto was happy with the obvious feminine flair the home had, that her house sadly lacked. Sasuke remained neutral, as he could care less about how the rooms were decorated. She led her three guests into a dinning room, where there sat a pretty, blue haired woman reading a Japanese romance novel.

"Kaa-san, we have visitors!" Sakura said cheerfully, pulling her mother out from the imaginary worlds of her book. The seemingly young woman looking up from what she was reading and was met by an eccentric group of people. All three of her daughters guests had the same obsidian eyes and raven black hair, though the differences between the three were comical. One, the apparent rebel of his family, looked like he would rather be anywhere else but in her dining room. The mother seemed as bright and loving as she herself was, and seemed to greatly appreciate the floral decor. The last one, and the youngest, didn't seem to care so much for the atmosphere in her home, but more for her daughter.

"Well, I just made a pot of tea, and I know we have some dango just waiting to be eaten." Konan smiled. She had a feeling that she was going to like her new neighbors, even the one with the bad-ass attitude.

"Okay, I'll go get the dango, and-"

"Sakura, go change out of your uniform instead. I'll get the tea and sweets." Konan interrupted her daughter. Sakura nodded her head and left to dress in something more appropriate, but not before giving Itachi, Mikoto and Sasuke a prize-winning smile, which Itachi was too wrapped up in his own mind to notice.

Itachi had been floating on cloud nine ever since he had heard Sakura's mother mention his solitary weakness, dango. His mouth watered, longing for the sweet treat he hadn't eaten for what to him, had been an eternity. As soon as it had been mentioned, he all but forgot that he was in enemy territory, and that _she_ was probably going to do anything and everything to grate on his already raw nerves. It will most likely be home made too, he thought longingly. Sasuke didn't look nearly as excited for their treat, but was more looking forward to seeing what Sakura would be dressed in upon returning.

Sakura returned, wearing a red and black plaid skirt and a simple white tank top that read 'ハラジュク' in bold black characters. Sasuke was pleased that she chose to still wear a skirt, he liked how her silky white legs showed nicely.

"Have you ever actually been to Harajuku?" Mikoto asked, knowing Itachi was too antisocial to ask, and that if she was going to find out anything, she was going to have to do it herself. Itachi perked up at hearing the name of the only place in Japan his mother wouldn't let him see. Then he noticed what she was wearing.

"Me and my kaa-san used to live in Harajuku." Sakura said sheepishly. She knew Harajuku had somewhat of a bad name, mostly because of the crazy clothes the young adults wore in that district of Tokyo. Mikoto's face blanched at the idea of the girl having lived in such a place, proving Sakura was right. Itachi's interest however, was peeked at the idea of this new girl having lived in the place in Japan he'd want to see the most.

"What was it like?" Itachi asked, forgetting that he was supposed to be silent and brooding. Mikoto wasn't sure if she was pleased or not, she was glad her son had spoken up, but she didn't like that the topic was on Harajuku. Sakura and Sasuke were both equally surprised, both of them knowing Itachi was the type of person to go weeks without speaking a single word.

"It was simply put, amazing. It was like everyday was an anime convention, and everyone there wasn't afraid to express themselves. It was so much fun dressing up like that everyday; it really is a shame America doesn't really have a place with so much freedom." Sakura sighed sadly, remembering a certain gothic lolita outfit she had hanging in the closet, doing nothing but attract moths. Then she remembered the purple kitty/maid outfit she had next to it, only adding to her despair.

"So, you would dress up everyday?" Mikoto asked unsurely. Sakura laughed at her carefully chosen words, she obviously was trying not to sound rude.

"Yep, both me and my mother did. Don't worry, I know that most adults that know Harajuku's reputation don't approve. I'm used to it already." Sakura winked.

"Then is your hair naturally that color, if you don't mind me asking." Mikoto said quizzically. Sakura was about to speak when her mother entered the room, a pot of tea and a big platter of dango at her disposal.

"Both of our hair colors are natural. Both me and her father happened to have a screwed up gene that resulted in strange hair colors, and it seems that she got that gene too. He had such crazy orange hair, and everyone would tease him so much for it." Konan chuckled to herself as she placed the platter on the low-set japanese table. Sakura served five cups of steaming hot green tea, silently placing one in front of each of them. She still had a hard time hearing her father being mentioned.

"How unusual, or rather, interesting. Where is Sakura's father?" Mikoto asked, trying to make small talk. She found it hard not to sound snobby, but she was taking to a full grown adult who had lived in and dressed up in Harajuku, of all places.

"My husband, and Sakura's father, is no longer alive. Nagato passed away three years back." Konan replied softly. This news shocked all three Uchiha, as they would never guessed this from Sakura's cheerful attitude. Sasuke looked at her, seeing that a thick mask resonating calmness covered her face, leaving her expression void of all emotions, blank.

"Forgive me, I didn't mean to bring up something so difficult." Mikoto apologized sincerely. Konan smiled anyway. She had moved on years back, and though she would never love someone like that again, she was relatively happy with the life she had. Her daughter however, wasn't one to move on so easily, and sometimes she could still her cry in the middle of the night. At least she tried to cover up her pain when she was around others, Konan could give her credit for that much.

"Sakura, why don't you give everyone a serving of your famously delicious dango?" Konan asked her daughter sweetly, bringing both Itachi and Sakura out of their dazes. Sakura often just left the world mentally whenever her otou-san was brought up, it helped her cope in a strange way. Itachi felt bad for the girl, but more than anything wondered what his own life would be like if his father wasn't living. Would he miss him, or just continue hating him as he did now? It was something to ponder.

"Sure, Kaa-san." Sakura quickly replied, putting on a believable smile for her guests. Yes, she was smiling, but it wasn't the same as she was earlier, Sasuke and Itachi noted. This soon was forgotten though, as a warm plate of dango was placed before each of them. Sasuke wasn't a fan of sweet foods, but when the tantalizing smell of the dango Sakura had made drifted to his nose, he happily ate it, and even enjoyed it. Itachi bit into his serving, chewing slowly as to not bring attention to how much he loved the snack. His house would be thousands more dangerous if his mother realized his obsession with the food.

His mother may not have noticed how her son savored the sweets, but Sakura quickly saw through his act. She smiled smugly to herself, knowing how she was going to irritate him for randomly appearing at her house. It was quite clear to her how he was trying to hide it from mother more than anything else, and it looked as if he already has a strained relationship with her. It was a bit cruel for her standards, but she decided to point out how much he seemed to like dango for his mother.

"My, Itachi-kun. I wouldn't have thought that you liked dango so much. You can have some more if you want." She snickered, watching his eyes widen in mortification. He didn't hear her just say that, right? It had just been his imagination, and she hadn't seen through his often worn facade, he told himself calmly. Then he looked into her shining green eyes and realized that she _had _just said that, and now his mother would know his sole weakness. Oh the horror.

"Itachi-kun, If I had known that you liked dango, I could have made it more often at home." Mikoto shared a quick smile with Sakura, knowing all too well that she had said that to irritate her son. Mikoto got the feeling that she was going to like the pink haired girl, even if she had lived in the most rebellious part in Japan.

"I never said that I liked dango." Itachi mumbled, but he already knew it was too late. The damage was done, and now his mother was going to be making him dango everyday after school. Konan laughed, she was glad that her daughter seemed to have found such amusing friends.

"Well, Saku-chan, it seems that you've found some good friends." Konan winked at her daughter. Sakura pouted at the very idea of being friends with Itachi. Sasuke wasn't so bad, but not Itachi, never Itachi.

"I never said we were friends. We just happen to share a few classes." Sakura defended. Itachi nodded his head in agreement. There was no way in hell he would ever be friends with her, even though she made the most delicious dango he had eaten before.

"Aww, that's so cute, huh, Mikoto-san?" Sakura's mother teased. Mikoto laughed at the face her eldest son was making, it said that he clearly didn't think it was cute.

"What classes do you two share anyway?" Sasuke asked. He only shared English, Chemistry and Health with Sakura, one of which Itachi was in as well.

"AP U.S. History, AP geometry, AP chemistry, and she seemed to have found my lunch spot." Itachi glared, remembering the torture of her showing up in his advanced classes. He should have been glad she wasn't in his AP English or Spanish classes. That would have been even worse.

"That's my girl, taking on the hard classes!" Konan stated proudly. ruffling her daughter's bubblegum pink hair in the process of her bragging. Sakura blushed, she never did like it when her parents used to show her off. Yes, she was overly smart, but did they used to have to tell that to every single one of their coworkers? It was just embarrassing, if you asked her.

"Wow, Sakura-chan, you must get really high marks to get into so many advanced placement classes.

"Actually, I could be taking AP Spanish and English, but they won't let me take the English class because I'm not a native speaker, and they made a mistake on my schedule when they put me into the regular Spanish class." Sakura sighed sadly. Oh, how she wished she could be in those classes, the classes she were taking on those subjects were so easy it was sad.

"Great, so you're going to try to sneak into my other classes too now?" Itachi grouched to himself. She frowned, not liking his attitude.

"I wasn't going to, but maybe I should."

Sasuke frowned at where this conversation was going, there was no way he was going to let his older brother have more classes with Sakura than him. It was bad enough that they had the same amount of classes with her as it was.

"Naruto will miss you if you change English classes." Sasuke stammered, desperately hiding the blush he felt creeping up his face. Sakura smirked, knowing fully well that Sasuke could care less if his friend missed her or not. What he was really saying was that _ he _would miss her, in his strange Uchiha language.

"What about you, Sasuke-kun, will _you_ miss me too?" She pouted, noticing how his face was beet red at this point. Itachi noticed it too, and he smiled evilly to himself, having found another little tidbit to torture his younger brother with: he had a crush on Sakura. Oh, how he was going to make his life a living hell.

"I never said I would miss you," Sasuke stared intently down at his empty cup of tea. He could picture it now, his brother taunting him for the next week, and his mother trying to persuade him to ask her out for the next month. Why did he always have to get himself into this kind of crap?

"Aw, that's so cute, ne, Konan-san?" Mikoto dazed dreamily, no doubt picturing her son dropping down to one knee to ask for Sakura's hand in marriage. Konan laughed, getting the same exact visual by just looking at Mikoto's face.

Sasuke glared at his mother, hating how she always jumped to extremes when it came to his, or his brother's for that matter, future marital status. Which was exactly why he had never dared to date one of his obsessive fan girls he went to school with. His mother would never rest until he found someone though, and he had to admit, he sort of liked the pink haired new girl who had just moved in on his street. What dangerous thoughts he had, Sasuke mused.

"Well, I fear that I need to get dinner out on the stove," Mikoto finally sighed. Konan smiled in understanding. Mikoto may have been somewhat prejudice about their previous residence, but she could tell she was a good type of neighbor to have.

"Thank you for coming over, it was a pleasure to meet all of you." Konan replied.

"We live just four houses down the road, so feel free to stop by any time you want. I hope to see you around, Sakura-chan." Mikoto inconspicuously invited her over. Sakura smiled, knowing fully well what Mikoto had been implying, and nodded her head in agreement. It would be quite amusing to randomly show up at their house, shocking both Uchiha boys. Itachi however, did not welcome the idea of his infuriating classmate having an open invitation to his house, as she would most likely abuse it. Then again, he could always use her being over to his own advantage, he could irritate her to no end, as revenge for letting his secret love for dango out. He still needed to make a plan for retaliation.

His mother got to her feet, and Itachi quickly followed in suit, wanting nothing more than to get out of her house. He was in the desperate need to wallow in self pity while listening to his depressing and darkly focussed music. Sakura's house was too cheerful for his taste, even his own mother didn't decorate with such feminine flamboyancy. The ever repetitive designs of brightly hued flowers that seemed to consume their dining room and the living room they had passed through was gradually beginning to blind him. He needed some nice, monotone grey colors to stare at for a while.

"What a lovely home they live in, huh, boys?" Their mother sighed dreamily as they drudged home, closely behind her.

"Lovely indeed." Itachi stated blandly.

"Well, I thought so." His mother replied, noticing the hint of sarcasm in her son's voice.

"Sakura-san is really lighthearted, considering her father is dead." Sasuke observed. His mother smiled sadly at his words.

"She is, isn't she?" Mikoto asked rhetorically. Once again, Itachi wondered what she must feel like, having only one parent, and how he would feel if he had lost his own father.

"You would never have guessed it in school. She's so joyful and doesn't take crap from anyone." Itachi muttered, remembering his several, yet thankfully short, encounters with Sakura throughout the length of the day.

"Yeah. She was sort of rebellious too, wearing those worn out all-stars." Sasuke agreed.

"She was a rebel, all right. She stole my lunch spot." Itachi grumbled at the memory of his miserable lunch period. So that's where she had been, Sasuke thought exasperatedly. He and Naruto had spent a good chunk of their lunch searching for her, and she happened to be in the last place he would ever look. With his god damned brother, in his (not so) happy emo hole.

"Itachi-kun, you should be more nice about it. She just moved here, so how was she supposed to know it was 'your' lunch spot?" His mother reproached. Itachi rolled his eyes, as if to say, 'I don't really care if she's new here, she stole my effing lunch spot.'

"After only knowing her a day, she's probably going to be there tomorrow too, just to annoy the hell out of me." Itachi glared down at the pavement. Their mother gave up, as there was no obvious way to save her son from his antisocial-ness. He was just going to have to realize how childish he was really acting, and grow up.

"Dinner in forty," Mikoto told her sons as they entered the house.

"I'm not hungry." Itachi muttered back at her, slinking up the stairs to his emo hole of a room. Yes, he was using his incompetent younger brother's terminology. It was pretty accurate, Itachi had to admit.

"You need to eat, Itachi. I won't let you pull another crazy study session without you having sustenance." His mother called.

"Not. Hungry." He repeated for emphasis. He was not going to spend another hour with his 'happy little family.' He was just going to sneak some leftovers when everyone was in bed, as he preferred to do. After all, his father would be home for dinner tonight.

Ignoring the base thumping upstairs, The Uchiha family, save one, joined each other for dinner. It was quiet, too quiet in Sasuke's opinion, a dangerous sign from someone as socially oriented as his mother was. She was deep in thought, no doubt on the same thing he was: Haruno Sakura. He wasn't sure why, but he found himself to be mysteriously attracted to the girl, which was not his usual. He had never thought too much about girls before, they were just the ones who littered the school hallways, giggling as he passed them. He didn't know what it felt like to actually like a girl. This made him curious; would she ever like him too? Did she ever have a boyfriend before? Does she have a boyfriend now? How difficult this 'crush' thing seemed to be.

Itachi waited until he was sure everyone was sound asleep when he left the safety of his room and went to scrounge the refrigerator. He found, to his liking, plenty of left over rice and ikura that had not been needed for whatever dinner had been. He pulled out the two ingredients, then made his way to the pantry to pull out the nori and the packet of powder he used to make sticky rice. After microwaving his rice so that it was steaming, he mixed in the yellowish-white powder that his mother disapproved of so much. It wasn't how you really make sticky rice, it was just a cheap imitation, she said. Well he didn't really care; it was much faster to use the powder than to make sticky rice by scratch.

The rice good and sticky, Itachi molded the rice into rounded triangle shapes, the ikura in the middle, then wrapped it in a strip of nori. After making four or five of his precious onigiri, Itachi returned to his room to continue his irrational study session, his much needed dinner in hand. It wasn't until his mother pounded on his door at two in the morning that he turned in for the night.

Sakura woke at her usual early morning hour to a refreshingly silent house. The whole Uchiha family welcoming had wore down on her nerves, and she was happy to have gotten so much sleep the last night. She looked about her room, smirking at the decor, wondering what mister emo-boy Itachi would think of it. He would definitely take it as a surprise, as there wasn't a single bit of it that was pink or flowery. The walls held her posters of her favorite bands, while also she held on display her favorite Harajuku outfit, a gothic vampire fairy. Most people, when they first got to know her, quickly realized she was not the happy-go-lucky girl who wore pink and tried out for the cheer squad. Those who did, were quickly beaten down for it, by a very insulted and furious Sakura.

She may have been a lot of things, but cheerleader captain was not one of them. Sakura took secret pride in the fact that she was a black belt in karate, and that she could probably kick the ass of any guy she met. Especially when attending such a preppy school. Yes, Sakura was smarter than anyone she knew, and stronger as well. She hung with the guys, listened to the bad music, wore the wrong things, and was over all, the exact opposite of what people expected from her. How she loved to see their shocked and disapproving expressions.

After quickly taking a shower, arranging her hair, putting on some light makeup, and getting into her school uniform, Sakura went downstairs for a much needed breakfast. Sadly, she noted that her mother had already left for work, and that she had left a message for her. Pouring a simple bowl of raisin bran and natural unsweetened vanilla soy milk, Sakura grabbed the note.

_Saku-chan,_

_I'm sorry that I can't drive you to school today, but I had to go into the office earlier than usual. I won't be back until late either, so you'll have to manage dinner on your own. I don't mind if you invite someone over, but please keep the house in order. Love you lots and have a great day. _

_Kaa-san_

She smiled to herself, sighing in despair all the same. The morning ride to school on the bus yesterday had been absolutely awful, and she wished that she didn't have to repeat it again today. Curse Americans and their futile attempts at public transportation, she thought darkly. Despite the evils of the school bus she would soon have to face, her healthy breakfast was spent in complete tranquility. Not wanting to be late, Sakura rinsed out her cereal bowl and made herself a bento with the leftovers from the night before. After retrieving her bag from her room and taking one more look in the mirror, she left the house, locking the door behind her. God, it was going to be a long day, she could just feel it.

The morning was in complete chaos in the Uchiha household, as it was every other morning. Mikoto had begun her daily rant on how her eldest son shouldn't be let out of the house with the horrifying eyeliner on, and that she was going to put her foot down. As always, Itachi ignored her, and instead just ate his bowl of fruit loops. Sasuke sat across from his antisocial brother, slurping down his bowl of corn flakes, amused by his mother's early morning rightful complaints. Uchiha Fugaku merely sat amongst the shambles, reading his newspaper. It was pointless to try to change Itachi's ways now, so he saw no reason for him to interfere. If anything, his son was just as infuriatingly stubborn as he was.

Finishing his fruit loops without having said a single word to anyone the entire morning, Itachi left his family for the safety of school, or somewhat safety. Tossing his backpack into the passenger seat, he quickly drove off in his black Audi, avoiding the bento lunch his mother had tried to give him in his escape. How he detested his stupid, non-understanding family. All he had ever wanted since reaching adolescence was to be left alone, something his mother refused to do.

Much of the morning was spent in the same way for both Itachi and Sakura; both of them glared relentlessly at each other in the classes they shared, only having peace once they got outside fifty feet of each other. The only difference that morning was that Itachi did not accompany Sakura to her second period English class with Jiraya-sensei, but instead bolted for the door as soon as the bell had rung.

Sakura smiled evilly to herself wondering if she should transfer to the AP English class somehow, just to bug him. She decided that was the wrong reason though, as it was stupid to change classes just to get under someone's skin. If she had any reason to transfer, it was to make sure her current class wasn't so mind numbingly boring. Sakura supposed she could ask the principle for a transfer during her lunch period, but when she reached her locker to pick up her bento, she remembered she was scheduled to torment Itachi in his emo-lunch-pit of doom.

Smirking inwardly, Sakura made her way to the lunch spot Itachi had claimed so bravely yesterday as his own. Just as the day before, she managed to situate herself before Itachi could so painstakingly arrive. Seeing the pink haired girl so comfortably eating her bento in _ his_ spot for the second day in a row, Itachi quickly began to reconsider the consequences for murder. He had always thought it would be Sasuke to push him over the edge, not some random girl from school.

"Sakura, I do believe I have told you that this is my lunch spot." Itachi grounded out dangerously in his approach. The corner of her lips tipped upward into a mischievous smile at his greeting.

"I think we've already been through this, Itachi-kun. I don't see your name on it." She responded tiredly.

"That can easily changed." He fumed, pulling a black permanent marker out of his backpack. Standing next to where she sat on the tiled flooring, he uncapped it and wrote "Itachi" in bold katakana characters above her head.

"Not going to work." Sakura told him in a sing-song voice, pulling out her own sharpie. Just below his name, she wrote "Sakura" in her own handwriting, satisfied with the livid look in the boy's eyes.

"There, now doesn't that look lovely?" She asked him sarcastically.

"Hn." He replied, slumping onto the floor next to her, just as he had the day before. He could tell this was going to become a regular thing, and he didn't like it one bit. Itachi watched in revulsion as the girl ate her bento, completely at peace with him sitting not three feet away from her. Taking her last bite of rice, she

exhaled loudly and put her bento box back together.

"Well, this has been fun and all, but I need to go to change my English class, and perhaps my Spanish while I'm at it." She told him sneeringly as she stood and stretched. He could do nothing but look up at the girl, wide-eyed and mortified. She had just made his life utterly miserable, with those few simple words.

"You would not dare-" He began, his tone seething.

"Yes, I would dare. I would most definitely dare to change to AP English and Spanish." She interrupted him, grabbed her bag.

"Hasta luego, Itachi-kun." Sakura called, cheerfully walking down the halls and to the front office. It was then that Itachi decided she must have been the most evil person in all of existence, even mores so than himself. He wanted more than anything to stop her from going to the principal for help with a transfer, but that woman, being the principal, was downright scary, even to someone like Itachi. So he watched helplessly as the girl walked down the halls to the front office, until she

was completely out of sight.

Walking to the office, Sakura hummed tonelessly to herself, in a good mood because she had just done something that really bothered Itachi. She didn't bother to notice the evil spawn's brother had caught sight of her, and begun to walk up to her. The poor boy had to practically run to catch up with her in her gloating daze.

"Sakura." He finally called, pulling her out of her mind and back into reality. She turned her head, smiling slightly at Sasuke. Now that he had caught up to her, and actually had her attention though, he had no idea what to do. Should he say hello, or maybe ask her where she was going so hurriedly? He knew he should have asked for someone's advice before just blindly walking up to her.

"Hello, Sasuke-kun." She said in greeting. How he loved the sound of her voice, Sasuke thought. The corners of his lips pulled up ever so slightly, making the first smile she had seen on either of the Uchiha boys. Needing something to say, he asked her the first thing that popped into his head.

"Do you want to hang out?" Sasuke asked, only to regret it a second later. Great, now she was going to think he liked her, which he wasn't sure he did. Even if he did like her, he would have never asked her normally to hang out, it would just be too weird to him. Sadly, she shook her head negative.

"I'm sorry, but I've got to go talk to the principal right now. You can come over to my place after school if you want to, though." Sakura told him, remembering the note her mother had left that morning.

"The principal? Did you do something bad or something?" He asked, instantly worried. Sakura wasn't sure why, but she found it sort of cute how he was concerned for her.

"No, other than the graffiti I made with Itachi, I haven't done anything." She laughed. Sasuke automatically flinched at the mentioning of his horrid brother, which Sakura quickly caught on. "Anyway, I have to go, the lunch period is almost over, and I want to get into those advanced placement classes," She continued. Sasuke could literally feel his heart drop down into his stomach. She was going to move classes, away from him and towards his bastard of a brother. She might not have meant it like that, but it was the only way he could see it.

"Ja ne, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called over her shoulder, making her way to the office. At least he still had Health and Chemistry with her, he told himself. Maybe he could use the excuse of a study session to 'hang out,' as Naruto would so bluntly say. Chemistry was still with his older brother though, so he wasn't sure if it still counted as a class with Sakura. And if had a 'study session' with her, his mother would probably try to push Itachi into joining as well, even though he preferred to be antisocial and emo, studying like a maniac by himself.

After her short conversation with Sasuke, Sakura quickly made her was into the front office. The little old lady that was typing on a computer in there redirected her into the principal's office. Only a little nervous, She knocked on the wooden door, and entered once she heard the woman's consent. Their school principal, a busty woman who looked like she was in her thirties, was sitting at her importantly sized desk, sipping a glass of sake.

"What can I do for you?" She asked, slamming her glass down in her drunkenness. Any other student would have been horrified to see their principal intoxicated to such a state on the job, but Sakura saw it to be helpful for her cause. The woman might actually let her transfer if she has no idea what the hell she was doing.

"I would like to transfer into AP English and Spanish, Tsunade-sensei." Sakura stated in a business like tone. Tsunade motioned her to sit in a chair in front of her desk and opened up a laptop. She only sat there for a few minutes, typing away like a mad woman, until she printed out a sheet of paper, Sakura's new schedule.

"You can start going to your new classes tomorrow. Go now, and if you see Shizune-sensei, don't tell her I was drinking again." Tsudade-sensei ordered, pointing at the door. Victoriously, Sakura did as she was told, and decided to return to the Itachi lunch emo-pit to shove it in his face. There was no way she was going to tell Shizune-sensei, the vice principal was the one who, out of concern, placed Sakura into the easier classes.

Unfortunately for Sakura, the gloating was going to have to wait, as the bell, indicating lunch was over, rang loudly. She rerouted to her locker, dropped off her bento box, and then made her way to her next class, Health with Naruto and Sasuke. When she got there, the two boys had already arrived, and were stationed in the same spots as they were last time. Naruto waved wildly, not stopping until Sakura had taken her rightful spot between the two boys.

"Konnichiwa, Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun." She greeted cheerfully. Naruto gave her a big, foxy grin in return, while Sasuke only nodded his head.

"What time would be most convenient for me to come over?" Sasuke asked her quietly, hoping his hair-brained best friend hadn't heard him.

"You can come over anytime after school, Sasuke-kun. Just as long as Itachi knows you're invited, and he isn't." Sakura smiled broadly. Oh, how she loved tormenting the older Uchiha boy. He grimaced at the mentioning of his older brother, but was glad she seemed to want to get on Itachi's nerves as much as he did. There was one thing they had in common.

"Should I tell him we'll be having dango?" Sasuke smirked, enjoying the plans they were creating to bother Itachi. If it was even possible, her evil grin stretched even wider across her face.

"Yes, and that I'll be showing you my stuff from Harajuku." She answered him, chuckling darkly. She was smart to have picked up on how Itachi was desperate to see Harajuku, and that he was obsessed with dango, Sasuke thought. He was starting to like her even more. She was smart, pretty, scheming, and had it out for his older brother. Sakura must have been the most perfect match for him, He decided.

After an excruciatingly long Health class, the two separated with maniacal plans for Itachi to be tortured with, Sasuke no longer bothered with the fact that he was going to have less classes with Sakura because of her transfers into advanced placement. Sakura couldn't wait for the final bell to ring, so that she could go home and put her scheme into action. When it finally did ring, she had practically ran to the bus, and ended up being the first one to board the villainous mode of transportation.

Itachi, now stuck in the after-school traffic, was being haunted by the very mischievous look he had recieved from Sakura, a.k.a. Evil-pink-haired-woman-from-his-personal-hell, during passing. He knew what it meant too; Tsunade-sensei had been drinking again and let Sakura slip into AP English and Spanish. With him. He had half the mind to tell Shizune-sensei that Tsunade had been drinking sake on the job again in retaliation, but he didn't want to face the fury of his blonde principal. So he had wimped out, and was now stuck brooding over the various ways he could make Sakura want to leave his classes.

When he arrived home, the house was empty albeit Sasuke, therefor there was no plate of dango waiting for him on the kitchen table. He wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed. Instead of dango, his younger brother was at the kitchen table, sifting through his backpack, removing anything that was unnecessary for his afternoon with Sakura.

"I'm going over to Sakura's place." Sasuke bragged, just as he had planned. This statement didn't affect Itachi though, in fact he was glad his brother was going over, he could have the house to himself.

"We're going to have dango, and she wanted to show me her stuff from Harajuku," He continued after getting no response. Itachi's eye twitched in irritant, and he wondered if his brother was trying to make him want to go by mentioning his two favorite things. Whatever the case, it was working, because now he did want to go to Sakura's house. The idea of dango and Harajuku in the same place was tempting enough for him to give in to being social.

"But, she said you were not invited." His younger brother told him cooly. Itachi glared at his brother, part of him not believing his ears. Of course it was just a plan they hitched to annoy the hell out of him, but it seemed to be working, unfortunately for Itachi. He watched in frustration as his brother made his way to the front door, leaving him dango-less and Harajuku-less.

"Enjoy another afternoon by yourself in the emo-pit you call a room." Sasuke said airily, shutting the door to a very furious Itachi. A very furious Itachi who now needed vengeance for the crimes his brother had just committed. It was a dangerous thing indeed, for Sasuke anyway.

Itachi considered his brother's dislikes and fears, wondering if dumping a pound of granulated sugar, since his brother hated sweets, on his pillow was enough. It wasn't satisfying enough, he concluded, as it would only bug him, not make him scream in terror. Itachi remembered now that he was home alone, and could do much worse things then waste sugar as retribution. An idea popping into his head, Itachi checked for his wallet in his back pocket, and then after seeing it was still there, left the house to buy something that would make Sasuke scream at seeing it.

Driving in his Audi and listening to an album of AFI, Itachi remember something that had happened a long time ago, when Sasuke had been only five. The snake bite he had gotten made him cower in fear at the sight of one, making a snake the perfect thing for Itachi to put on Sasuke's pillow. He quickly sped to the nearest Petco, and inspected their selection of snakes. Using the money he had earned from his job at Hot Topic, Itachi bought the cheapest, most harmless snake they had, along with the necessary supplies to care for it. After he had scared the living day lights out of Sasuke, he was going to keep the snake in his room, as a pet. Buying Shinigami, the snake, had been rather expensive, but it was worth it, when he thought of the screams he would be hearing that evening.

Before his mother had returned from the grocery store with the ingredients for whatever she was planning to make for dinner, Itachi had made it home and moved his pet snake up into his bedroom. He set up the flourescently lit tank for his innocent little pet, and after the amusing event of feeding Shinigami, he turned on his music and waited the return for of his unsuspecting brother. He loved being evil.

**A/N: Mwahahahaha!!!! I love making Itachi do evil things to Sasuke. :D Okay everyone, you see that beautiful button next to this message? You know you want to press it.... So please give me some reviews!!!**

**~Itaweasel-hime **


	3. Chapter 3

Sakuke walked over to Sakura's house, rather satisfied with the furious expression Itachi had been wearing as he left. He would never have thought how evilly his aniki was planning his demise, which he should have, considering it was his brother. Now dressed in a pair of jeans and simply designed tee shirt, Sasuke knocked on the her door, hoping him coming over so soon didn't make him seem desperate to see her, or something along those lines. She answered, also having changed out of her school uniform, favoring a pair of short shorts and baggy shirt.

"What did he do?" Sakura asked excitedly as the boy walked through her entrance.

"He was really angry." He replied, earning him a gigantic smile from Sakura. Half of the reason he liked the girl so much was probably because she seemed to love to annoy Itachi, Sasuke pondered. It was a reason enough for him to like anyone, if you asked him.

"I'm glad to hear it. Now let me show you around the rest of the house." She laughed cheerfully, using her imagination to picture Itachi's livid reaction to being uninvited. Not saying much of anything, he followed her around, keeping track of every room they entered. Most of them, as the living and dining rooms were, were stylish and florally decorated. Every room they went into, Sasuke had expected to find the girl's mother, reading a Japanese romance novel as she was yesterday, but she apparently wasn't home.

"Well, that's the downstairs. It's sort of boring, if you ask me, but my Kaa-san insisted that we decorate that part of the house like the average-American, vanilla family would." Sakura said, leading him up to the only interesting part of the house, the upstairs. She only planned on showing him her room, as it would be strange to show off her mother's bedroom.

Sakura stopped in front of a closed door labeled 'Saku-chan' and with a large warning sign that said, 'Intruders will be shot, survivors will be shot again.' If Sasuke hadn't seen it on the door to a girl's room, he probably would have laughed at it. Though seeing as it was on the door of girl's room, it wasn't nearly as funny.

"I like my privacy." She muttered in explanation. Sasuke nodded his head, and she opened the door. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but her bedroom wasn't like any other room he had ever seen. There were posters on the walls, with names of bands he had only heard of from his brother, and some of them were unfamiliar as well. Hanging next to her posters was a black dress with gothic wings, something he assumed she had worn in Harajuku. On another wall there were karate belts, all of them arranged in order up to the black belt. Next to that were a pair of katana being displayed in a fancy show case, both of which having something inscribed in kanji on them. Then there was a desk, with an overload of pictures of her with her mother, with who he assumed to be her father, and several different boys Sasuke took to be friends. Most of them were shots where she and who ever else was in it, were dressed up like it was Halloween. There was also one other picture with another girl, but other than that one, she was always with a certain group of guys, which in his opinion, looked a lot older than her.

"So, what do you think?" Sakura asked nervously. She wasn't sure how an

average-American boy would react to seeing how she decorated her room, and she didn't want to seem too strange. A little strange was okay, though.

"It isn't like any other room I've seen, but I like it." He replied, taking another look at her posters. He would have never expected the girl to listen to the same genre of music his older brother listened to, and despite her music of choice, she was still cheerful and non-emo looking. He'd never seen her in Harajuku though, so he really had nothing other than what she wore to school and what she was wearing that moment to judge by.

"I'm glad. I tried to tone it down a little, for my mother's sake. I used to have black walls in my last room." She laughed, opening a big bag of shrimp chips that were sitting on her desk, just waiting to be eaten.

"I figured you wouldn't want sweets again." Sakura told him wisely, passing the bag. Sasuke's eyebrows rose in a pleasant surprise, somewhat pleased she was perceptive enough to tell he hated sugar in any form, and had thought ahead for his sake. He grabbed the bag, taking a handful of the salty snack and munching on it contently. Even his own mother didn't realize his hate for sweets that had only grown since his time in elementary school.

"Thanks." He smiled softly, returning the bag. She returned the smile happily, much to Sasuke's satisfaction. They sat on her floor, and Sasuke asked her questions about her life in Japan.

At first she had been hesitant to answer Sasuke's questions, but Sakura grew comfortable around the Uchiha's calm and collected aura, and ended up telling him things she wouldn't normally have. There was the first time she had seen Harajuku, when she was ten years old, and her father had still been alive. She told him of her friends she left behind, Hidan, Sasori, Deidara, Gaara and Temari. He listened to her, feeding on the information she shared, not wanting to know why she only mentioned one girl out of her friends left in Japan. Sasuke was sensitive enough to tell that Sakura's father was a forbidden subject, so he didn't ask anything about him. Sakura was glad for this, as she didn't want to cry like last time she had talked about her dead father.

Both of the teenagers had enjoyed their conversation, and in the time they spent talking, had eaten a whole bag of shrimp chips. The diligent student Sakura was, she insisted they finish at least some of their homework load during his visit, so Sasuke was thankful he had brought his backpack. Not that he was surprised much, Sasuke discovered that the petite girl he had been chatting with all afternoon was probably almost as smart as his older brother. Even though it was mostly silent, besides the background metal music Sakura was playing, Sasuke had a hard time working without speaking to her. There was something that had been bothering him throughout his whole visit so far, and he needed to know how she felt. He was a jealous type of guy, and he hadn't failed to notice how his brother was brought up some way or another more than once.

"Sakura, what do you think about my Nii-san?" He asked quietly, watching her expression as she looked up from her geometry homework. It quickly gave away her bemusement, and Sakura hoped he wasn't asking if she liked him in any way she was thinking he was.

"He's fun to irritate, quite honestly. He's such an antisocial emo-boy with a pole up his ass, and he doesn't even realize his own vulnerability. His reactions to my pestering him is beyond amusing." She replied.

"Vulnerability?" Sasuke asked curiously, though feeling slightly appeased by her apparent dislike for Itachi. At least he knew he wasn't going to be fighting his brother for her affection, if he had to battle anyone at all.

"Yeah, maybe it isn't as obvious as I thought it was, but I picked up on it instantly." Sakura shook her head in disappointment. You would think the people who lived with him would notice Itachi's weakness. Sasuke waited for her to explain herself, not saying anything at all.

"He's very much aware of his outward appearance, at least that's what I think. He's always complaining about being seen with me or anyone else for that matter; he probably is just acting when it comes to how big of a jackass he is. Nobody _really_ wants to be alone all of the time, but he acts like he does, almost like a protective mechanism. Even he probably doesn't notice the wall he's built around himself." Sakura elaborated.

"Are you saying my brother isn't an asshole?" Sasuke asked dubiously.

"No, your brother is complete bastard. A bastard who is afraid of being touched by people, afraid of people to know he's just as insecure as the rest of the world."

"I can't really picture Itachi being described as insecure."

"Exactly my point. He's a good actor, I gotta say!" Sakura laughed, taking a sip of the diet coke she was drinking.

"So you're irritating the hell out of my older brother because he's such a faker, and you want to expose him for who he really is...?" he tried to grasp her logic. All he could comprehend was that his brother was screwed up, which he already had known. Sakura couldn't really explain her concept to him, as she hardly understood it herself. She hated the man, yet she was still trying to help him in her own quirky way. Maybe she was just trying to get Itachi out of his bubble to humiliate him because of how he was such an ass to her, Sakura told herself. There couldn't be any other explantation.

"Yeah. I sort of want to see what kind of person Itachi really is." Sakura confirmed. Itachi was a challenge though, even Gaara had warmed up to her in only a day, and he had been a nightmare before.

"He's emo. End of story." Sasuke replied dryly. Sakura rolled her eyes, but was unable to hide her smile from the spiky haired boy sitting across from her. He was emo, that much Sasuke was right about. Dark, brooding, moody, sadistic, and over all too smart was how she defined the stereotypical emo-boy they enjoyed gossiping over so much. Sakura had the sudden morbid curiosity to find out if he was a cutter or not, but knew that was a dangerous path to tread on.

After having finished his homework, shared another bag of chips, and having laughed at people's expense for a good chunk of Sasuke's day, he decided he couldn't intrude any longer. Sakura, who had had an enjoyable afternoon and early evening, walked Sasuke to the door as soon as he declared it was time he left. She wished she could invite him to join her for dinner, as she would have to eat alone, but she didn't want to imply that she had feeling for him that didn't exist. Sasuke was a nice boy, and she liked him a lot, but not enough to be more than just friends.

Satisfied with the smile he had left her with, Sasuke walked home, unsuspecting the terror his aniki had lined up for him so maliciously.

Itachi, who was growing tired of waiting, sat by his window on guard, his new pet coiling itself around his wrist innocently. Smiling inwardly, he finally spotted what he had been waiting for, Sasuke walking home from Sakura's house. Without a moments waste, he left his room to deliver his snake to Sasuke's room. Itachi hadn't left his newly acquired snake in his room earlier because of the fact that it might not have been in sight by the time his brother returned home. He didn't want to lose his poor little snaky on his first day of ownership.

Itachi place Shinigami harmlessly on his younger brother's pillow, and then retreated before Sasuke had even entered the house. His patience having returned to him, he waited with a cruel excitement to hear the screams. Having a good sense of hearing, Itachi listened eagerly as his brother walked up the stairs, past his room, and into his own. The door to Sasuke's room shut, and Itachi had to only wait for a few seconds to get the reaction he had been hoping for.

The long scream of terror that escaped through Sasuke's lips was so loud that it could have been heard from Sakura's house. Buying Shinigami had not been a waste, by any means, Itachi thought, actually having to work to not laugh at his brother's horrified noise.

"THERE'S A FUCKING SNAKE IN HERE!" Sasuke shouted even louder than his scream had been. Oh, how Itachi loved being the sadistic person he was. The tortured voice of his brother made even whatever consequences he might receive worth it. Itachi wasn't surprised when Sasuke stomped to his room and barbarically threw open his door, in fact, he had been expecting it.

"Can I help you, ototou?" Itachi asked smugly, not bothering to hide the pleased smile grazing his features. Sasuke merely glared ferociously at his aniki, fury making him unable to form words in his mouth.

"There. Is. A. Snake. On. My. Fucking. Pillow." Sasuke finally bit out, much to Itachi's delight. His reaction was priceless, he was going to have to burn it into his memory for future enjoyment.

"Why yes, I believe you found Shinigami. Quite the scare you probably gave him with your girly screams." Itachi responded airily, adding oil to the already burning flames.

"I don't scream like a girl! And who the hell cares if that snake gets scared?!" Sasuke yelled back. His older brother shook his head in disagreement and disapproval.

"You screamed so loudly, the whole neighborhood must have heard you. If it weren't for the fact that I was entertained by the shriek, it would have scared even me. Of course it would scare Shinigami."

"Shinigami? You named the damned thing?!"

"Of course I did. It isn't unusual for a person to name their pet is it?" Itachi asked rhetorically.

"Only someone like you would call that thing a death god so fondly. I swear, they must have spit you out of hell when you were born!"

"Ah yes. Good times, good times." Itachi answered, feigning a sense of remembrance. This only added to Sasuke's annoyance and fury.

"What is your fucking problem?!" The younger Uchiha roared.

"I thought we already established that I was the evil spawn of Satan who was taken from hell to torment you as your older brother." He replied dryly.

"Are you serious?!"

"You said it, not me."

Sasuke pivoted on his feet and stormed out of Itachi's room, shouting, "Get the goddamned incubus out of my room!" in his wake. Sighing happily, Itachi complied to Sasuke's demand, more because he wanted to reward Shinigami than because of wanting to give his brother some relief. Itachi returned his frightened snake to his tank, where he awarded it with its dinner. He watched with a morbid interest as Shinigami slowly fit a mouse into his mouth and then swallowed it, so it was only visible as a small bump in its elongated body.

As he tended to do every night, Itachi ignored his mother's desperate calls for him to come down to dinner, and waited until the house was silent with sleep to go downstairs. Feeling lazy, he just made himself a bowl of rice sprinkled with furikake and ikure and went upstairs to finish up his late night studies and the watching of his sleeping snake. It wasn't until two-thirty in the morning that he succumbed into a much needed slumber.

Much as the two mornings before, Sakura had woken up, gotten into her uniform, and then gone downstairs to eat breakfast. This time around, she had made it in time to say her goodbyes to her mother, who was leaving for her job at the office. It saddened Sakura to always be alone, but she knew that her mother worked so many hours for her benefit, so that she could raise her on her own. Dinner the night previous had been a dark event, as she hadn't asked Sasuke to stay with her. He had his own family, and it didn't feel right to keep him away from that. Of course there had been that awful scream she had heard from the general direction of the Uchiha household not three minutes after he had left. She had dismissed it though as only her imagination. Itachi would never do something bad enough to make Sasuke scream like that, right? 

Itachi's morning, which was just as it had been for the past three years, was utterly chaotic. His mother had scolded him for not only the eyeliner and piercings, but the whole snake ordeal from yesterday as well. As always, Itachi said nothing in return, instead he ate his fruit loops in silence. He left the house in his Audi without having said a single word the entire morning. Itachi regretfully made his way to first period AP History with Kakashi-sensei, where the true demon from hell was waiting for class to begin, reading a book peacefully.

They said nothing to each other, and Itachi spent the class glowering at her profile and fiddling with his lip piercing. Sakura had a hard time ignoring the boy next to her who was watching her so intently, but dutifully took notes on the lecture anyway. Kakashi had seen how the two of his smartest students interacted with each other, and was rather disappointed. It would have been more interesting to him if they had become friends, as Itachi had never spoken to anyone in class before the pinkette had arrived.

As the bell rang, Sakura stood with her bag ready, and turned to look at Itachi. He was still putting his unused supplies back into his bag. She knew that they would have the next class together, but unlike him, she didn't know where the classroom was located. Not wanting to have to stalk him, Sakura knocked on his desk, with her bag already slung over her shoulder. Itachi glared up at her standing figure, waiting for her to give up and leave.

"Itachi, I know you know the way to AP English with Orochimaru-sensei." Sakura stated, breaking the silence that had settled in the classroom. He glared relentlessly at her, as if to say, _'I'm not going to help you, no matter what you say to me.' _He stood with his backpack in hand, and made his way out of the class, his eyes having said everything he needed to say. She followed him closely behind, muttering curses under her breath as they went.

"Itachi-kun, what's so hard about helping a person?" She asked over the noise of the crowds making their ways to their next period. He didn't answer her question, it was bad enough that the girl was trailing so closely behind him, making it look like he was actually walking with her. Sakura sighed in defeat, finding that the Uchiha was just as unaccommodating as he was before.

She waved to Sasuke and Naruto as they crossed in the hall, and they returned the gesture, but Naruto much more enthusiastic about it. She would have stayed to chat, but Sakura didn't want to lose Itachi in the throngs of people, as he was her way to class. Sasuke didn't like that she was sort of walking with his older brother, but knew better than to approach them on the matter. He wasn't scared of Sakura so much, but more of his bastard of an older brother.

Orochimaru-sensei's class was smaller than what she had been expecting, with only about twenty students. The teacher himself was rather cold and dark seeming, but at least he didn't make her introduce herself to the class, saying, _'You can make your social endeavors on your own time, my class has no time for such pointless things.' _He assigned her a seat in the only spot available, a desk in the back with the one and only Uchiha Itachi. If it weren't for the fact that he was sitting in a class, Itachi would have cried.

As the girl sat next to him, Itachi slumped lowly in his desk, resting his weary head on his notebook. He swore that the girl was going to be the death of him. She was his neighbor, had most of his classes with him, and was becoming a friend of Sasuke's. She was too much for him to handle, with her cheerful outward appearance, and her attempts at irritating him. So far, she was succeeding; Itachi couldn't remember the last time he had considered suicide to get away from his problems. Sakura was becoming a big unavoidable problem, in his opinion.

"Okay class, today we shall begin a unit on poetry and short stories, beginning with Edgar Allen Poe. I need someone to get our new books from the library." A girl with long brown hair and canine like teeth eagerly raised her hand.

"Thank you, Inuzuka Hana. You may go." Orochimaru-sensei told the girl dryly. She jumped to her feet and was soon out of the door, heading in the direction of the library to retrieve their books. Their teacher sat at his desk, typing at a computer while waiting for Hana to return. The class buzzed with idle chatter, the only two people not speaking being Itachi and Sakura. She didn't bother to try to make conversation with the emo-boy next to her, but instead took out the book she had been reading earlier.

Hana returned, and took the liberty of handing everyone a book. Itachi boredly looked down at his tattered copy of Poe's works, wishing they could find something to study that he hadn't already read. It made the class too easy, and he wanted something to for once, be hard for him. Sakura flipped excitedly through her own book, hoping they would read everything, as Poe was probably one of her favorite classic writers. Everything was familiar, safe, and she especially hoped they could start with _The Black Cat, _or_ The Tell-tale Heart. _Much to her chagrin, they were told to read _The Raven_ to themselves quietly. Itachi quickly went through his book, the old pages nearly coming off in his hands until he found the poem they had been told to read. Why did everyone always give him the crappiest copy of a book, he wondered. At least he had his own copy of Poe's works at home, just waiting to be read again. He wouldn't have to worry about that book falling apart, as he kept all of his books in pristine condition.

Sakura smiled at the familiar words, glad to have changed into AP English at such an opportune time. Itachi saw her generally happy expression, and wondered to himself if she was really reading the poem as everyone else was. Besides her, the rest of the class looked either bored by the poem, or downright depressed, so she probably wasn't reading it, but instead thinking about something else. He just hoped she wasn't trying to come up with any more diabolical plans to make his life more miserable than it already was.

"What are you so happy about?" Itachi finally asked the girl who was so joyfully engrossed with their reading assignment. Poe wrote depressing things, so why would she look so happy if she was really reading it, Itachi thought skeptically. She looked up from the pages and turned to face him.

"Is there something wrong with liking Edgar Allen Poe?" Sakura asked, not liking that he had interrupted her reading. Sure, she had been on the last couple lines, but she hated looking up from a book before finishing it. Itachi looked like he didn't believe she liked Poe's writings, only making her more irritated with him.

"His works are rather dark, depressing and death oriented. You shouldn't smile if you were really reading it. It gives away too much." Itachi implied that she hadn't been following classroom directions, making her more angry.

"Poe may be death oriented, but I've been reading him ever since I learned English, Itachi. I'm allowed to smile at whatever the hell I want." She glared.

"No you're not. It's like an insult to Poe to be smiling when you read his works. It's supposed to make you sad, not happy." He replied stubbornly.

"Well sorry, if I'm not normal, mister know-it-all-Itachi." Sakura snarled sarcastically. He rolled his eyes, the girl was too sensitive, if you asked him. He had only said anything to make sure she wasn't hatching some evil plan, and now she was turning it into an argument.

"I'm hardly a know-it-all." Itachi disagreed. She seethed with anger, wondering if he had to disagree with everything he was told. It certainly seemed like it, the way he always liked to tell her she was wrong about something.

"Get that giant pole out of your ass, Itachi-kun." She growled, ignoring the giggles starting from the students around them. He raised his eyebrow in shock, as if to say, _'Sakura, I do not have a pole sticking up my ass.'_

_ "_It's a figure of speech, Itachi. I wasn't implying that you literally had a pole up your ass."

Itachi snorted, and then gave her a doubtful look, as if asking if she still had all of her sanity. The only bad thing about getting to tease Itachi was that he could do the same thing back, Sakura thought angrily. She wanted nothing more than to give him a good smack upside the head. Maybe he'll see stars.

"Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Itachi, stay after class." Orochimaru-sensei drawled, shutting both teenagers up. They glared at each other for a second or two more, then both returned to their reading. They both knew what it meant if you had to stay after class, you were going to get detention.

A sense of dread filled Sakura, as she had only had detention once before, and she had served it with her best friend. She and Temari had been caught sneaking off campus during lunch to pick up a cup of coffee, something Temari had persuaded her to do. Detention had been fun though, they had chatted and giggled together the entire time. If she had to serve detention with Itachi, she knew it wasn't going to be in any way, fun. Sakura couldn't even understand why them arguing had been bad enough to earn them detention.

The same dread went through Itachi; he had forgotten how easily Orochimaru-sensei handed out after school detention slips, and for the smallest of things. He remembered the one time Hana had gotten detention after school, it had been for speaking too loudly for classroom atmosphere. It was like his English teacher got kicks out of giving his students detention.

"I assume the two of you know why you're here?" Orochimaru-sensei asked Itachi and Sakura boredly, after the classroom being emptied.

"Because you're going to be assigning us detention after school." Itachi sighed, taking the yellow slip he was handed. Sakura took her own slip, her fear growing. How was she going to get home after detention? Her mother wasn't going to be home until nine o'clock at least.

"Why don't you use that genius of yours next time, and not talk during my class." Their teacher said, sending them off to their next class.

The two of them ignored each other's existence for the remainder of the day, both of them not looking forward for the detention with which they would have to work together in that afternoon. Itachi didn't even grumble when he found Sakura eating her bento in his lunch spot. It was like she wasn't even there. Sakura couldn't remember the last time she had been so angry with a person. She felt even more upset when Sasuke had invited her over to his place after school, and cursed Itachi as she told him that she had to serve detention and couldn't hang out.

AP Spanish hadn't been as bad as English had, at least Anko-sensei had the sense to not put Sakura next to Itachi. The class had even been interesting for her, she learned that the school she was currently attending could actually be fun. Anko-sensei had been funny to listen to in her perfect Spanish, she had been the only teacher Sakura had met who teased Itachi for his sense of style and anti-social personality. This amusement didn't last long enough though, as the bell rang, signaling that school was over, and Sakura had to go to her detention. Sighing, she put her belongings in her backpack and then sadly walked to her AP English classroom, trying to come up with a solution to how she was going to get home.

"I want the two of you to organize my book shelves in alphabetical order. I expect it to be done in an hour." Orochimaru-sensei told them strictly. They nodded their heads in consent, and Orochimaru-sensei left to go to the teacher's lounge.

"If I hear any arguing, I'll assign you two detention tomorrow too." Their teacher threatened, shutting the door behind him. Itachi and Sakura quickly got to work, not wanting to have to stay at school for any longer than the hour they were given.

"How the hell is he supposed to know if we argue or not? He's not even in the room." Sakura muttered to herself, working just the same. Itachi silently agreed, but didn't say anything to make her think that he thought she was, for once, right about something. Heaven forbid that.

The collasal bookshelf didn't take much longer than the hour they were given to put it in alphabetical order, with the combined geniuses of Itachi and Sakura. Once they had finished, they had left with a warning from their teacher, saying that if they argued in class again, they would have to do something much more difficult than the mundane job of organizing books. Having found no solution to how she was going to get home, Sakura resolved to walk, and with her heavy bag, started her twelve mile track. She just hoped that her mother wouldn't worry too much when she hadn't gotten home before her.

Itachi got into his precious black Audi TT and drove out of the student parking lot, quickly spotting the girl he had spent the last hour with walking along the sidewalk. He honestly couldn't believe that she was stupid enough to walk home, it would take her hours! Her mother would probably send out a police search when she didn't get home. Itachi slowed his car to her pace and opened the window.

"Are you seriously going to walk _twelve_ miles home?" He asked her. She continued to walk, not wanting to waste time.

"I don't have any other way to get home." She replied. Itachi blinked his eyes at her, wondering if she really was that dense. He cleared his throat.

"As you can see, I have a car. We live what, three houses down from each other?" Itachi asked her, wondering why she hadn't asked for a ride if she had known she had no way home.

"Well, I didn't know how you were getting home, and even if ask for a ride, would you have said yes?" Sakura asked doubtfully. Itachi glared inwardly, knowing she was probably right. He wasn't the most helpful, or caring, person in the world.

"Just get in the car, Sakura." He told her. She looked at him, not sure why he would help her. Even he didn't know why he was helping her.

"You're going to give me a ride?" She asked, disoriented. He sighed, but nodded his head yes anyway.

"Thank you, Itachi-kun." She smiled, walking around the car to sit in the passenger seat. The smile had surprised him slightly, but he didn't show it as she sat down next to him. She gasped in surprise at hearing the music Itachi was playing.

"You listen to Senses Fail? They're one of my favorite bands!" Sakura said excitedly as the car sped up.

"_You _listen to Senses Fail?" Itachi couldn't help but to ask. She didn't look like the type of girl to listen to emo music.

"Of course I do. Anyone with a good taste in music does." She scoffed, trying to look offended. Itachi smirked though, seeing through her act.

"That, I will agree on." He said, turning up the music to hear the lyrics clearer. Neither of them could help but to sing along with the words, though Sakura's voice was much livelier than his.

"Hang me, hate me, if it helps you to move on. I'm still here, wishing you the worst, even though you're gone..." Sakura sang along, only stopping to laugh to herself, not believing that she had something in common with Itachi. Her voice was pleasing to him, and was disappointed when she stopped.

"Who else do you listen to?" He asked the girl, wondering if they liked any of the other same bands.

"Let's see, There's My Chemical Romance, Slipknot, AFI, Linkin Park, Green Day, Evanescence, Three Days Grace, Skillet, All That Remains, Breaking Benjamin, and Funeral for a Friend. Not to mention other random stuff, like Jimmy Eat World, or Silver Sun Pickups." She listed for him. He could feel his jaw drop. She had just named some of his favorite bands.

"You like music like that?" he asked, wondering if he had finally found another person on the planet who had the same taste in music as him. It had to be some sick, twisted joke that she had planned with his brother. Sasuke must have told her his favorite bands, and now she was using that knowledge to bother him.

"Yeah, I know it's sort of strange. You should have seen Sasuke's reaction when he saw the posters in my room. People always seem to think I'm some sort of cheerleader captain who listens to hip hop or some crap like that. I guess it's hard to tell though, if I always have to wear a uniform." Sakura mused.

"Well, I never thought you were a preppy cheerleader or something, but I didn't think anyone, let alone you, had the same taste in music as me."

The rest of the drive was spent listening to the awesomeness known as Senses Fail, both of them continuing to sing along with the artist. Almost regretfully, Itachi stopped the car in front of her house to drop her off. This was the first time he had enjoyed the company of someone else in a long time, and he didn't want it to end yet. He expected everything to go back to the way it was before the drive, and he wasn't sure that he wanted that.

"Do you want to come in? I have dango, and I know you want to hear about the most amazing place on earth, A.K.A. Harajuku." Sakura offered. Smirking, Itachi turned off his car in response, then followed her into the house. Maybe things wouldn't go back to the way they were, with the two of them always butting heads with each other.

"What time does your mother normally get home?" Itachi asked, sitting at a kitchen table and watching her warm the dango and make tea. Letting the kettle boil, she sat across from him, smiling ruefully.

"Late. I normally spend most of the weekdays by myself." She replied, running her fingers through her pink hair, a self-conscience habit she had. Itachi sat in silence, watching her fiddle with her hair, playing mindlessly with his lip-ring. She may have a bubbly personality, but he could tell she was lonely and somewhat sad. He understood the feeling, and felt sympathetic for her. Being alone could be hard for a person.

"Why did you move here if you were always going to be alone?" He asked softly, sensitively. She looked up from where she had been staring at the grains in the kitchen table, and for a moment, their eyes met. For a moment, they had complete understanding of each other, but the kettle whistled loudly, and Sakura had to take it off of the stovetop.

"My mother and I thought it would be a good opportunity for both of us. She could get I better job, and I could get into an American University for cheaper." Sakura answered, bringing a steeping pot of green tea and the dango with her to the table. It was comfortably silent, both of them thinking in their own separate worlds, almost forgetting that another person was in the room.

Removing herself from her thoughts, Sakura poured them both a cup of tea, and then served the sweet treat to go with it. Itachi gladly took the snack, and they both enjoyed their dango and tea. Sakura sighed contently as she took her last sip, and looked up at Itachi once more, who had already finished his serving. She stood to place the dishes into the sink, and then returned to the table.

"Hey, Itachi, let me show you my room." Sakura smirked, pulling him up to his feet. With a firm grasp of his hand, she dragged him across the house, him blushing ever so slightly. He couldn't remember ever having been in a girl's bed room before, and he wasn't sure that it was completely appropriate. She, however, ignored his protests, and pulled him up the stairwell and down the hall. The room he found himself standing in was not what he had been expecting. Though now that he had gotten to know Sakura a little bit more, he couldn't be sure what to expect anymore. Then he saw the outfit, proudly displayed on her wall.

"Is that something you wore in Harajuku?" He asked, forgetting his previous embarrassment. She smiled, and nodded her head.

"I managed to keep all of my Harajuku clothes, though I can't really wear them anywhere here." Sakura said, opening her closet, which was filled to the brim with her gothic lolita fashion. Itachi looked at the long row of dresses, most of them black, but others being bright pink or yellow.

"What was it like?" He asked, refering to Harajuku.

"I loved it there. Everyone dressed up like it was Halloween every day, and nobody looked down at you just because of how you expressed yourself." She replied, sitting on the carpeted floor.

"I don't even understand why my mother won't let me even think about going there. You would think a parent would want their child to be themselves without being bothered about it." He grumbled, sitting on the floor as well.

"Not every parent likes the idea of their kid going to Harauku. Most grown adults look down on the place because it's so crazy."

"Your Kaa-san doesn't."

"Harajuku was a special place for my Kaa-san and me when my father was alive. We lived near there, so we used to visit it every weekend when he was alive." Sakura choked on her last word. Embarrassed, she looked down at her lap, not believing she still hadn't gotten over her father's death.

"You don't have to talk about it. I understand." Itachi reassured her, trying to sound as soothing as he could. She nodded her head, working to keep her tears in. A couple seconds more, and she regained her lost composure.

"So what do you think of my room?" She asked hopefully. His eyes looked about the room for a second time and then returned to her.

"I think it's kick-ass." He stated, and Sakura laughed happily.

"Why, Itachi, is that a _compliment_?" She teased lightly, and even Itachi couldn't frown at her smiling face.

"I suppose it is." He said dryly, working to not smile back at her. He failed though, and his straight face was lost. The two talked for hours, forgetting about their other obligations in favor of a nice conversation. Sakura shockingly got a few chuckles out of him, even though nobody was being tortured, or was in pain.

Eventually, he had to leave though, and she walked him out to the car. Before going back into his black Audi, Itachi looked up at the big empty house, and knew she was going to be alone for dinner. He wasn't sure why, but he didn't like the idea one bit.

"Do you want to come over for dinner? I'm sure my Kaa-san won't mind." He invited. Her face lit up immediately.

"Sure! Let me just go change, and I can meet you over there." She accepted, looking down at her uniform. Itachi nodded his head and drove off, excited for the first time that had nothing to do with torturing Sasuke, in a long time.

As soon as he had driven off, Sakura made a mad dash for her closet upstairs. She wasn't sure what would be appropriate to wear at his house, she didn't know their family all that well. For a split second, she considered wearing one of her Harajuku outfits, but thought better of it when she remembered Mikoto's reaction to hearing that she had lived there. She instead grabbed a pair of black skinny jeans with her trusty studded belt and a band shirt. Not caring that the blinds were open, she threw on her outfit, and checked her reflection in her full length mirror.

Frowning, she made her way into the bathroom to apply some eyeliner and mascara, and then brush her unruly pink hair. Not completely satisfied, but seeing nothing more to do to change her appearance, she grabbed her handbag and locked up the house. Not sure when she would be back, she left a scribble of a note for her mother, just in case she returned before she did.

With her reliable all-stars on, Sakura walked down the street to Itachi's house. The sun was just starting to set, and the last light of the day cast long, dark shadows on the sidewalk as she made her way. Not knowing what to expect, Sakura walked up their pathway and onto the front porch, then excitedly rang the doorbell. After waiting for a couple seconds, Mikoto opened the door, wearing a very confused expression.

"Itachi-kun invited me over for dinner." Sakura explained to the bewildered woman. Mikoto smiled, and let her in to the house. It was going to be a very interesting evening, that much she was certain of.

**A/N: I can't seem to make up my mind.... So I'll ask my readers, should I make Itachi a cutter? Help me decide!! And press that review button!!!**

**~Itaweasel-hime**


	4. Chapter 4

"Our house isn't as feminine and pretty as yours is, but you are welcome to come over whenever you want, Sakura-chan." Mikoto smiled, opening the door wider for Sakura to enter. Sakura took a look around the living room and smiled, liking the decor of the Uchiha household better than that of her own.

"Actually, I like your house, it has a modern European feel to it." Sakura replied, disagreeing with her happily. She would much rather live somewhere with a modern, crisp edge to it than the soft, girly edges to her home.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan," Mikoto said, leading her into the dining room, where Sasuke was sitting, flipping through a manga book. He looked up from his reading, shocked, but entirely pleased to see his classmate. He had never thought she would show up uninvited for dinner, but he was glad she was there. It was nice to have her company, meals at his house were often silent events.

"What are you doing here, Sakura?" Sasuke asked, feeling unusually cheerful with an uncharacteristic smile tugging at his lips.

"Itachi-kun invited me over." She answered, taking a seat across from him. The smile quickly dropped into frown, the happy feeling was gone. Itachi never invited people over for dinner, and now he was inviting a girl? Sakura wasn't just some girl either, she was the girl he happened to like. It wasn't good if Itachi had taken an interest in her too, there was no way for him to win.

"You don't have to look so upset about it." Sakura laughed at Sasuke's pained expression, lightening his mood almost instantly. He wasn't sure how or why, but Sasuke was sure she had some sort of magic about her that made it impossible for him to stay angry for long.

"So are you and him friends now?" Sasuke asked anxiously, hoping, but not really not expecting a negative. Life would just to be to easy if that were the case.

"I guess so," She shrugged. "After the detention we had to serve together, he drove me home, and we started talking music. Whatever the case, I seemed to get through his barrier."

Sasuke didn't like how she seemed excited that she 'gotten through his barrier.' There was no time to say anything about it though, as he heard the loud stomping of Itachi running down the stairs. Apparently his mother had seen it necessary to summon him for Sakura's arrival. Itachi entered the dinning room, wearing a pair of a black skinny jeans and a band shirt.

"We match." Sakura joked, inspecting his outfit. Itachi, feeling the same magic Sasuke had earlier, smirked while looking at her clothes as well.

"Can't go wrong with black jeans and a band shirt." Itachi told her sagely. Sakura chuckled and then stood.

"So, are you two going to show me your rooms? You both got to see mine." Sakura teased, standing up. Both boys blushed, though Itachi managed to hide it so that it was barely visible. Sasuke failed compared to his older brother, and Sakura saw it quickly and caught on.

"Ah, is Sasuke-kun embarrassed?" She flirted teasingly, and then turned to face Itachi, "That's okay, I'm more curious about Itachi-kun's room anyway." Sakura continued, taking one of his hands in both of hers. Sasuke observed how she was so comfortable around his brother, and found it unsettling.

"Fine, if you insist." Itachi muttered, pulling her in the direction of the stairwell. He was obviously embarrassed, but he wasn't about to show that to Sakura as his foolish younger brother had. His mother must have heard the conversation from her position in the kitchen, because she abruptly put an end to the plans of going upstairs.

"Dinner's ready, so I don't want you escaping to your room, Itachi-kun!" Mikoto had called, stopping him in his tracks. Sakura couldn't help but to wonder if Itachi usually 'escaped' dinner with his family by hiding in his bedroom every night. By Mikoto's tone of voice, she was left to assume that was the truth. And the way he muttered 'yes, Okaa-san,' under his breath only confirmed her hypothesis more.

Sasuke was thankful mother had put a stop to them going upstairs, as he had the feeling if they had made it to Itachi's room, they wouldn't come down for a while. He didn't think they would do something inappropriate, they would most likely talk about music and gothic lolita fashion. Sasuke didn't like to admit it, but Sakura and Itachi had more in common than himself and Sakura. She was into the same music (if it could be called that, what was the point in listening to it if you can't understand what the singer was saying through all of the screaming?) as Itachi, though she had more of an excuse to be all emo after her father died. What excuse did Itachi have though? That was half of what made him so weird.

"I hope you don't mind, but I've prepared spaghetti for dinner tonight, instead of something Japanese." Mikoto stated, as soon as everyone had been seated, and Sakura had been properly introduced to Fugaku. Sakura smiled to herself, remembering the pathetic attempt at spaghetti she and her mother had made once. It would be nice to see what the dish really tasted like, when it hadn't been exploded, and when a cup of vinegar hadn't been accidentally dumped into the pot. It had probably been one of the worst things she had ever tasted.

"I would like that very much, thank you." Sakura answered her, completely hiding her amusement. Mikoto probably wouldn't take well to her laughing at the idea of Spaghetti. No doubt, she would take it as an insult to her cooking, which Sakura had the feeling, was better than anything she or her mother could create. Though, that may not say too much, as she and her mother were not capable of cooking much outside of Japanese cuisine. Even their take on Japanese cuisine could be considered mediocre by people with more refined tastes.

"You know, Sakura-chan, it's probably been almost year since Itachi-kun ate dinner with the family. I have to pull teeth just to get him downstairs for breakfast every morning. I really am thankful that you came over, it made him spend time with his family for once." Mikoto sighed, passing a bowl of salad around the table. Sakura couldn't restrain a smirk, and all Itachi could do was gape at his unusually blunt mother. Had it really been necessary for her to tell Sakura about how he never spent time with his family, he wondered.

"Thanks for that, Kaa-san." Itachi muttered dryly. Sakura giggled at his sarcastic response, and his secretly flustered expression. He may have been a cold person in most people's opinions, but that didn't mean that he wanted the girl to know about his eating habits, or how much time he wasted with his family. He hardly knew her, and she already seemed to know so much about him.

"I was just stating it as it were, Itachi-kun." His mother giggled mischievously. Itachi rolled his eyes in irritation, wishing that he could skip the pointless meal and make onigiri with Sakura and listen to music upstairs. She wouldn't want that though, he could tell she would much rather enjoy a dinner with a real family instead of practically alone with him. He might have been the same as that, if his family were dead, and his only living relative worked endlessly at her job. It had to be lonely for her, always being cooped up in her house with no experiences with a family, and he wasn't going to ruin that for her. He made the choice to spend his time alone, but she didn't have that much.

"Pass the salad dressing, Sasuke." He finally said, changing the subject to a more favorable one, a non-existing one, in other words. Wordlessly, Sasuke passed Itachi the bottle of Italian dressing, uncomfortable with his older brother's rare presence at the dinner table. Couldn't Itachi have been antisocial as usual, and go hide in his room, so that he could have Sakura to himself? Sakura may have finally made a small connection with the stoic person, but that didn't mean he had rights to making everyone feel awkward by his being there.

Sakura smiled to herself all throughout the troubled meal, both because of the atmosphere Itachi caused, and because the spaghetti had been so delicious. Itachi and Sasuke had shared several basilisk like glares with each other, but because Mikoto and Fugaku made no reaction to it, Sakura followed their example. Not having seen much of the two boys together before, she had no reason to know that this was how the brothers normally treated one another. It was amusing, to say the least. It made her wish feverishly that he had a brother of her own, all she had was her mentally retarded friends back in Harajuku, and they could hardly be considered brothers. Two of them were gay, and very happy with each other, and the other was a Jashin extremist who took joy in hurting himself. She loved them all, and wished the best for all of them, but they were certainly not her _brothers_.

"So, are either of you going to show me your rooms, or am I going to have to look for them myself?" Sakura asked the two brothers who were silently sipping at the last of their water glasses, Mikoto having already retreated to the kitchen. Fugaku was also gone, deciding to read in his office instead of deal with his sons, leaving the trio to entertain themselves. This could never be an easy thing, as two of the three were unreasonably stubborn.

"Which one would you like to see first, your ladyship?" Itachi asked wittily, being the first to relent. Sasuke glowered at his brother and quickly decided that he didn't want Sakura to go into Itachi's room before seeing his. If that happened, he got the impression that she wouldn't leave for quite some time. That wasn't because she was _emo_ like Itachi, because he could never like an emo-girl, but more because his older brother's room was much more interesting. Even Sasuke couldn't deny that Itachi's room, with its black decor and edgy feel to it, was much cooler than his own room, which in comparison, was rather dull.

"Since I got to see Sakura's room first, then she should get to see mine first as well." Sasuke muttered so lowly that one would have thought he was talking to himself. Sakura smirked, as if to say it was bold of him to say that, but nodded her head just the same. The trio got to their feet, and after having nervously grabbed Sakura's wrist, Sasuke led them upstairs to his simply put together bedroom. This was his first time letting a girl into his room, as he never really had anyone other than Naruto over to his house, so Sasuke was rightfully anxious when he opened his door. He was instantaneously grateful that his mother had shanghaied him into organizing his normally sloppily kept room, other wise Sakura would have met a pile of dirty clothes, or something of that sort, as soon as she had seen the room.

Girls probably didn't appreciate such things, he noted to himself.

The room Sakura first entered into was in her opinion, plain. The walls were bare and still the pristine white from when they had moved in, and the only things he had in the room was a desk, a bed, and a small dresser. There were no pictures of friends, no random crap laying around, and no indication that anyone lived in the room at all. That had to be changed, because frankly, the way he had his room put together, reflected on Sasuke's personality, or lack there of. She couldn't even tell if he did anything at all besides go to school and get sleep. What a boring life that had to be. Maybe he would let her redecorate a little bit, but there was a low chance of that.

"Well, that was boring, so let's continue on this tour." Itachi stated blandly, looking around the room with disinterest. There wasn't much he could say in defense for his younger brother, not that he would want to defend him in the first place. Sasuke had a lack of life in his room, and in Itachi's opinion, Sasuke didn't have much of a personality at all. He was always doing as he was told, always listening to their parents and teachers, and other adult role models; there was no spice, no excitement in rebellion.

"Gladly; no offense, Sasuke-kun, but he is right. Your room is rather plain." Sakura sighed, shaking her head in disappointment. She could only hope that Itachi, who was an extreme of Sasuke, didn't have a boring room too. She would probably have to go all decorating-girl on their unimaginative asses from the horror of such bare rooms. Wordlessly, Sakura followed Itachi down the hall, and stopped at a door that was labeled "Itachi" and had a sign hanging above that, stating, "Enter at your own risk." She snorted at the predictability.

"I prefer to be left alone." Itachi grumbled, thinking to himself that he hadn't been left to himself in a while, with his mother, and now his new neighbor. The door slowly crept open, too slowly, Sakura decided, and as soon as she was at liberty to do so, she entered the room. The first thing she saw was a tank, and inside it Itachi's newly acquired snake.

"Hebi-kun!" Sakura squealed joyously, making her way to the pet, and leaving two bewildered teenage boys in her wake. Weren't girls supposed to scream and run at the sight of a snake? Did she really just call Shinigami 'Hebi-kun?' Itachi wondered. It sound a lot less scary with such a name. He sighed to himself, following her to the tank.

"His name is Shinigami." He corrected Sakura, taking off the lid to the tank and reaching his hand in. The harmless snake slithered around his wrist, hissing softly. Sasuke cringed, he knew the snake was no threat, but he still hated the evil little spawn of hell. He would never be able to be comfortable around the despicable thing his brother called a pet.

"Can I hold him?" she asked hopefully. Itachi had been about to tell her no, when he looked into her big, round green eyes, begging for his consent. He nodded his head and held out his wrist expectantly. Excited, she reached out to carefully take the calm little reptile. It lazily wrapped itself around her forearm, and then lay there contently. Sakura giggled, and Sasuke thought that he was going to vomit at the sight. She actually liked the disgusting vermin that would curse him for all of entirety. Using a timid finger, she stroked the head of Shinigami's head, careful to be sure she didn't offend the lovable little creature. The snake was lulled into sleep, and so Itachi returned him to his tank, being sure to not wake him.

"Your room is much more interesting than Sasuke's was." Sakura joked lightly, looking about the room now that the distraction the snake had created was gone. Sasuke rolled his eyes, not denying the fact that his room was boring. Itachi shrugged in response, and then shoved his hands into his pocket. There were random posters of bands on the walls, a large stereo system, and a desk covered with papers. It wasn't as orderly as she had expected, but she liked the room, it had personality. Amongst the papers scattered on his desk lay his sketchbook, and in it the drawings he had been hiding from his mother for the past few years. Her eyes caught sight of it, and smirking, she picked it up.

"Do you mind if I see?" She asked, her curiosity over-flowing. She had never pictured Itachi as an artist, and she couldn't help but to wonder what sort of things he drew. Itachi considered it for a moment, and as it was more hidden from his mother then anyone else, he saw no reason to prevent her from looking. Besides, it might help him improve if another set of eyes inspected the drawings, and he could use some honest, constructive criticism.

"My only warning is that my drawings all have a rather morbid interest." He told her, and in his own way, letting her know that she could take a peek. Sakura flipped open the book, and from the first drawing, she was completely captivated. Itachi's use of value made his sketches so much more vivid, the darks were dark, the lights light, and all of the shades between were mixed in naturally. He had talent, that much she could see. He was right though, all of his drawings were somehow centered around death, or misery, or pain. They were depressing, but still so interesting to her, and she didn't look up until she had seen each of his pictures.

"Itachi, you have real talent." Sakura said in awe, placing the book back onto his desk. So much for the constructive criticism, Itachi sighed inwardly. The next thing she's going to do is tell me I should open a gallery or something, he thought wryly. If his mother saw any of his real drawings, she would no doubt do the same thing.

"You really should show this to someone, but I understand why you haven't yet." She smiled sadly. He raised his eyebrow in surprise. So she grasped how his mother would send him to a shrink if she caught wind of his sketches. She was certainly different, she didn't even scold him for drawing so many pictures about dying. He wondered if she was completely competent or not. Nobody, girls least of all, was supposed to be okay with death, and yet she was. Maybe she was just as out of place in the world as he was.

"I showed you, haven't I?" He asked smirking. Sakura rolled her eyes, but nodded her head. He was right, he did show someone; her. She wanted to ask what it was that inspired him, but was afraid to touch in on subjects he might consider taboo. She didn't know his past, so if he had experienced some terrible thing, she could easily bring up things meant to be kept secret, and by only asking why he drew what he drew.

"What do you have in your CD player?" She wondered out loud, changing the topic as smoothly as she could. Sakura pressed the play button, and the chorus to _Miss Murder_ blasted through the room. She smirked to herself, appreciating the song, while Sasuke looked utterly tortured. Both Sakura and his brother hummed along with the track, after sitting awkwardly on the carpeted floor. He sat closely to the door that was still ajar, just in case he had reason to make a run for it.

"How can you two stand that kind of music?" Sasuke muttered under his breath, more to himself than anyone. Both of them had heard his comment though, and had turned to glare at him. Who was he to insult the awesomeness known as emo-music?

"It's better than whatever sissy crap you like to listen to." Itachi replied in a tone that, over the years, Sasuke had learned to fear. That didn't matter though, as his brother had just insulted his own music. It was most certainly not sissy, as his brother had so cruelly put it.

"My music isn't _sissy_." Sasuke corrected angrily. Just because his music didn't sing about killing yourself didn't mean it was somehow wimpy or something. Unfortunately, Sakura happened to be siding with Itachi on this round, and he wasn't sure how involved she would get with their petty argument.

"Right, because Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga are the essence of manliness." Itachi reprimanded sarcastically. Sakura snorted, drawing the attention of both irritated boys. She had to agree with Itachi, Lady Gaga was hardly the epitome of masculinity. Both of them looked at her, waiting for her to explain why she had so rudely interrupted their death-glare contest.

"Don't look at me like that, Itachi. He insulted my music too." She scoffed. The room remained silent, though Itachi's look wasn't nearly as intense as it had been.

Knowing they wanted her to say something more, she continued in saying, "Sorry Sasuke, but Itachi's right, nobody, a boy most of all, should listen to only Justin Timberlake and Lady Gaga, or other crap like that."

Itachi turned back to his younger brother, his expression smug, knowing he had won that battle. Sasuke dropped the glare, but still seemed miffed at being ganged up against. Sakura breathed deeply, and decided she would have to be the mediator between the two unreasonably stubborn brothers.

"It's okay if you listen to stuff like that, but it's sort of wrong if that's all you ever listen to. Even I like that song, _Poker Face_, or sometimes _Bad Romance_, by Lady Gaga. It is a little disturbing if all you ever listen to is pop, though." She said carefully, being sure to not say something that would get on either of the two boys nerves. Sakura had made a few friends, and irritating them within the first couple days of knowing them wasn't how to keep them as friends. Still, their constant disagreeing was slightly unnerving, and she didn't want to have to choose between either of them. Friends in America were harder to make then she had initially imagined.

"I don't listen to just pop, I like some alternative music too." Sasuke said hopefully. He then continued to name a few bands that he deemed acceptable, "I like All-American Rejects, The Fray, and Panic! at the Disco too." Sakura wanted to roll her eyes at the girly bands he listed, but she needed to be the mature one to set a good example for Itachi, so she restrained herself. The two brothers seriously needed to look past their subtle differences, and at least try to get along with each other.

"Whatever you say, Sasuke." Itachi grumbled, though he knew what Sakura was trying to do. There was no way he was going to be all brotherly with Sasuke, no matter how hard Sakura pressed for it. Their rivalry had been going on for too long, so there could be no impasse now, the bridge between them had been torn down too many years ago.

"Excuse me?" Sasuke growled back, a vein on his forehead protruding dangerously.

"Listening to All-American Rejects is just as bad as Lady Gaga." Itachi informed him in his most sagely tone.

"Is not."

"Most definitely is so."

"I hate you."

"The feeling is mutual."

At this snide comment, Sasuke had roared furiously, and tackled his older brother, trying to hold him down, even though Itachi was probably a half a foot taller then him, and much stronger, at that. After very little struggle, Itachi had flopped their positions, so that he was strangling Sasuke instead. There was every intention in him knocking out Sasuke, based on his actions. Sasuke squirmed in Itachi's hold, but finding he was unable to free himself, decided to use the verbal abuse route instead of the physical.

"What, you're not going to take out your hidden knife that you use to cut yourself with? That would be so much more affective." He taunted. Itachi tensed slightly, surprised by his choice of words. Did Sasuke really want him to hill him?

"You know perfectly well that I am not a cutter." Itachi breathed in a forced scary tone, which though false, had the affect he had hoped for. Sasuke stopped wriggling, and after he tightened his arms around his neck, he had been tapped out. Sighing with relief, he released his brother, who lay there limply. Such a poor excuse of a human being, he mused, pushing the boy off of him. He had only intended to knock him out for a few seconds, but Sasuke was so weak that it had lasted longer than expected. Not wanting to be the closest thing to his brother when he regained consciousness, Itachi threw Sasuke over his shoulder, and then dumped him on his bed in his room.

Sakura had watched the whole traumatic event with horror, not believing that they hated each other enough to fight physically. She wasn't even sure who had started it, one moment Sasuke had been sitting next to her, the next he was scrambling on the floor with his brother. She assumed that Sasuke had initiated the fight, but she didn't deem it necessary for Itachi to knock him out. They were both equally guilty, if you asked her.

"You shouldn't have done that, it causes brain damage." She scolded when he returned to the room.

"He doesn't have enough brains to make any difference anyway." Itachi retorted, crossing his arms childishly. Sakura chuckled at his bluntness, which he took as agreement. Itachi turned up the music, and sat back on the floor. She smiled sadly at the familiar words, humming along with one of her favorite songs from the album playing.

"I'm guessing you like the song _Endlessly, She Said_. Though I must say, it makes you look rather sad." He commented, listening to her sweet voice as it hummed. She nodded her head, not stopping for a moment to reply properly.

"Most people don't understand this, but listening to sad music often makes me feel happier somehow. It's like it-"

"Makes you feel better for your own situation." Itachi finished for her. Looking slightly surprised, Sakura nodded her head in consent. It made sense to her in a twisted way, that Itachi would be the one to understand her, when nobody else seemed to. Her mother was the only one who seemed to comprehend why she listened to the music she did, and that was the only reason she allowed it.

"When my Otou-san died, the only one who understood it was my mother, but now I'm afraid she looks down at me. She's managed to move on, but I'm still clinging to my memories of him. Maybe she hopes that I'll get over his death faster if I feel better about myself." Sakura murmured. Then she gasped, realizing what she had just told him. There was some secret pact she had made with herself that she would never speak of her father again, so why had she just told him that? It went against everything she worked for. Her shock and pain was easily read on her face by Itachi, who felt that he was to blame.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything." He whispered, seeing her face scrunch up, and the steaming tears pool in her eyes. She diligently held them back, determined to not cry in front of him. This bothered him, to him, it was like she was ashamed to cry, like she had to act differently then she wanted to. It was painful to watch her torture herself, even more painful than if she had actually let herself cry.

"It's okay to cry, if you need to." Itachi soothed, feeling an out of place sense of caring. What was happening to him? Before Sakura, he would have ignored a girl who was crying, or even worse, he would have told her to be quite. He wasn't a caring, compassionate person, so why did he want her to feel better? He shouldn't care what she felt, and yet, he did.

"I don't need to." She sputtered, her actions contradicting her statement. Sakura hugged herself for self-comfort, but in finding none, let the tears spill, and the strangled sobs loose. Deep inside of his chest, Itachi felt something sharp twist achingly for the first time in a while. He didn't think about what he should do, his body acted on it's own accord. His arm snaked around her to grant the solace she so desperately sought, and he pulled her petite figure into him.

In hysterics and not knowing what was happening, she clutched him, taking in his calming aura for the support she needed. Itachi felt her hot tears seep through the fabric of his shirt. She pulled at him urgently, searching for those feelings of contentment and safety that she hadn't had since her father's death. He massaged circles into her back as he would a disconcerted child in need.

Furious, Sasuke woke, finding himself on his bed. He was going to kill his brother, he swore to himself. He jumped up and ignored the dizzy sensation. He marched straight to Itachi's room, and threw the door open so violently that it could have fallen off of the hinges. What he saw was a hysterical Sakura clinging onto Itachi, and his brother attempting to comfort her. As if he liked her, or something.

Itachi's head shot up, and he sent Sasuke a spine-tingling glare for being interrupted. Sasuke's anger faltered, and was replaced with concern for the pixie girl who was sobbing into his brother's chest. Itachi's glare didn't slack, but he instead nudged his head towards the open door, indicating that he should leave. Sasuke quickly backed out of the room, knowing better than to go against Itachi when he was in one of his moods. He had already been knocked out once that day.

Regaining composure, Sakura realized two very important points; one, she was in the arms of a guy, two, the guy smelled really _good_. She hadn't really thought Itachi to be a cologne wearing type of man, but apparently he was, based on the strong musky scent of his skin. You really do learn something new every day, she thought. Then the embarrassment came. Why the hell was she hugging Itachi? She didn't want a boyfriend, just a friend who happened to be a boy. She was going to give him the wrong idea if she let him hold her any longer.

"I'm sorry for that Itachi. I normally don't lose control like that." She said shyly, pulling herself away from his intoxicating scent. To Itachi, this was an unusual Sakura to see; she was blushing ever so slightly, and she seemed to be embarrassed that she had been clutching onto him like he was her life force. She was usually bold and sarcastic, so unlike the timid girl he sat next to now.

"That's okay, I don't mind." He reassured her. Wait, that came out wrong. Now she was going to think he possessed feeling for her that he didn't. He just wanted to have her as a friend, if that. He was used to the sedentary life. He felt himself grow flustered, but being Uchiha Itachi, that didn't mean much. Sakura could see no difference in his self-control.

"Still, I shouldn't have done that." Sakura told him carefully, trying to read his impassive expression. That was impossible though, and she quickly gave up on that idea.

"I should take you home; it's getting late, and your mother will be worried." He changed the subject smoothly. Sakura looked up at the clock on the wall, which read ten o'clock. He was right, she should head home before her mother marched over to the Uchiha household and demanded her daughter back. That would be interesting though, to see Mikoto's shock.

"I can walk myself home." Sakura told him stubbornly. She wasn't going to let him get the wrong idea. He was hot, he smelled good, and he was strangely understanding, but she wasn't interested in getting a boyfriend. Her grades were much more important any way.

"I want to walk you home." Damn, that came out wrong again. She was going to think he liked her or something. Which he most definitely didn't. He just wanted to make sure she made it home without anymore breakdowns. She was going to think he was crazy.

"I'm not a kid, Itachi. I can manage to walk myself three houses down the road." Sakura told him. Itachi glared into space, obviously thinking the opposite.

Sighing, she got to her feet, and without a word, walked out of the room. He followed shortly behind, being sure to not say a thing to her. The two of them were stubborn, and walked all the way to her house in silence. It was when they reached her door, that the quiet was broken.

"Thank you for everything, Itachi." Sakura murmured, looking up at her wordless companion. A smile slowly crept into his features, and he nodded his head.

"My family seemed to have throughly enjoyed your company at dinner. Perhaps we can do it again some time soon." He replied. Crap, he thought. It sounded like he was asking her out, or something to that effect. She looked up at him, her surprise completely expected by Itachi.

"I suppose," she pause for a moment, trying to think of something good to say, "I'll see you later Itachi." Sakura finished lamely, having not thought of something clever to tell him. Did that mean that he thought they were a 'thing?' She feverishly hoped he wasn't that daft. He was a male though, so if anything, he was clueless about her intentions, even if he happened to be the most intelligent boy she knew.

"Yes, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Itachi blinked a few times, and seeing no point in letting him make himself into a bigger ass, he turned around an stalked off. Did she think they were a couple now? He prayed to some invisible force that she didn't think they were together in any way, and was unable to stop the question that popped into his head. Would it be such a bad thing if they were together?

Of course it would be bad if they got together, he told himself. He had absolutely no experience with girls, and she would never like him anyway. It was pointless for him to even think about her in such a way. She was just a friend, and a new one, at that. There was no stupid romantic crap between them, nor would there ever be.

Sakura turned away from Itachi's retreating back, and entered the house. Was it bad if she let him think she was interested in her? She didn't need a second opinion to know that it would not be good if she led him on for to long. Sakura was going to have to talk to him in AP U.S. History tomorrow, and she wasn't looking forward to that. It was bound to be awkward for both of them, and she hoped that he would still want to be her friend after her rejection. What was she thinking? There was no such thing as just being friends, it was something made up by overly imaginative authors who were too determined to make sure all of their characters were happy at the end of the story. Such concepts didn't apply to real life.

"I got your note. Did you have fun?" Her mother called from the kitchen.

"Yeah, the Uchiha's have a very _interesting_ family." Sakura muttered, going upstairs to her room. Her mother didn't pry, and Sakura quickly got to work on her neglected homework. After finishing it, she slumped into bed, too tired from the day's events to do much else. It was funny how much could change in the span of a day.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Here you go, people! You guys are lucky you're even getting this chapter, I wasn't expecting to be able to post it until the end of x-mas break! I'm supposed to be at my grandparent's right now, and there's no way in hell they would ever let me go on their computer... Anyway, because my flight got canceled, you guys get the next chapter! Enjoy, and on with the story!**

Sitting on the bus on her way to school, Sakura squirmed nervously. She knew she had to tell him that they weren't possible, but she still felt that dread pulling at her insides. He needed to know they couldn't be more than friends, but why did the idea of telling him this trouble her so much, she wondered. She was just afraid of losing a new friend, she reassured herself. There could be no other reason for her to feel anxious about it.

Itachi sat at his desk in the back of the class, mindlessly playing with his lip-ring. He was trying to read his book, but his mind kept wandering back to the girl who would soon be joining him in the classroom. Sakura. He had to tell her the truth, if he was ever going to get some peace of mind. He couldn't let her think that he wanted to be anything more than her friend. For some reason though, the thought was unsettling. Would she not understand, and brush him off after being rejected? Before Sakura, Itachi wouldn't have even cared, adding more to his distress. He shouldn't care if she didn't want to be his friend anymore.

His eyes flickered up nervously from the book he wasn't reading at the sound of the door opening. It was early, and he had not expected anyone else to enter yet. But there Sakura stood, her hair sticking up childishly, her eyes glowing, and a foreboding smile tugging at the corners of her pink lips.

"I thought you might be in here." She said calmly, approaching him. Itachi shut his book and took a moment to feel his remorse before turning back to her. She set down her bag on top of her desk, and stood next to him.

"I have something I need to tell you." Itachi said, choosing his words with caution. The smile on her face faded, and she looked confused. Sakura couldn't help but to wonder if he already knew what she wanted to say. She brushed the thought out of her head though, he probably thought she liked him. _Like_-liked him.

"Actually, so do I, Itachi." She replied. His eyebrow lifted in an expression of surprise, but he remained silent. Apparently, she was going to do the speaking first, she grimaced. Did he have to chose this moment to be the gentleman, she pondered minutely.

"Itachi, I just wanted to let you know that I have no intentions in us being anything more than friends. You're a great guy and all, I'm just not interested in that sort of relationship." Sakura muttered, looking intently down at her worn out all-stars. There was no way she was going to make any eye contact with him.

Itachi sighed loudly in relief. He couldn't remember the last time he had ever felt more thankful for someone rejecting him.

"Thank God, I was afraid you liked me or something. I was going to tell you the same thing." Itachi chuckled, answering her questioning look. A heart felt smile lit up her face, her feeling the same contentment he did. She even let herself giggle at the ridiculous situation they had let themselves get into. Both of them had thought they had liked one another, and in turn, had needlessly stressed over the very idea.

"So I guess I don't have to ask you if we can stay friends?" Sakura joked, throughly glad that she had kept her emo-sidekick. He nodded his head, trying not to snort at her jest. This girl was bringing the worst out of him, or as most would think, the best in him. Not that anyone else's opinion really mattered much to the stoic boy.

All too soon for both teenagers, the bell rang, and students began to file into the once quiet room. Idle chatter ensued, cutting off the conversation between Itachi and Sakura. She sat in her desk, ignoring the imploring glances from her fellow classmates from up front, not really caring what they thought of her. Knowing fully well that Kakashi-sensei wouldn't come to class for another ten minutes at least, she flipped open her book of stories by Poe, deciding to go over the homework reading for the next class.

When Kakashi entered his classroom in his usual lateness, he was pleased to find that the normally threatening tension between a certain Uchiha and Haruno was nonexistent. It was a good change, in his opinion, as long as they didn't start talking during class. He didn't really care if they missed the lesson, they were too smart for their own good as it was, but the rest of the class didn't need the distraction of Itachi talking. They, unfortunately, weren't as bright as his two prized pupils, if he could call them that.

English in Orochimaru-sensei's class was much more peaceful now that Itachi and Sakura had settled their differences, an event Orochimaru took credit for, seeing as he was the one to give them detention together. They continued in reading Poe and analyzing the meanings to the writings. Nobody payed much to the sound of Itachi's dark snickers when Hana read out loud the part of Black Cat when the narrator lodged a hatchet into the brain of his wife, mercilessly killing her.

Sakura had joined in his good humor, though not because of the death of the narrator's wife. She couldn't help but to find it amusing that someone could think such a gruesome death as funny. This was Itachi though, so she should have expected as much from him. She wasn't concerned that the entire class now thought she was as insane as Itachi, and that they thought she was some sort of creep who like death. That was their problem.

The day passed relatively quickly, despite the fact that Sakura had several advanced classes which all seemed to add to her stress. She needed the credits though, she decided stubbornly. It didn't matter if she ended up killing herself in the process of getting those credits. If anything, she liked a good challenge. Besides, if she ever got desperate for help, she could always go to the ever reliable Itachi for help. He wouldn't be able to deny her assistance, she had seen how easily he had given in to holding his precious little snake, even though he hadn't wanted to.

Itachi could easily become putty to her capable hands, she realized, and she wasn't sure if she liked that or not. Sakura was never one for manipulation, but prospect of him bending to her will gave her a strange high. It was Itachi though, she had to remind herself, and Itachi wasn't someone to mess around with. She had learned that after seeing him strangling Sasuke.

It was wrong, who was she to think of controlling him like some puppet, making him sway left or right when she wanted him to? It made her feel slightly sick to her stomach, considering what she was thinking about. It was all in her doe-like eyes, she knew it, and even he was susceptible to their undeniable cuteness. She must have been a terrible person. Itachi was her friend, she pounded into her head, not someone to emotionally abuse.

These thoughts passed as soon as they had come, much to the relief of Sakura, and anyone who sat near her during class, as she had been letting loose a strangling aura.

"Do you mind if I sit in _your_ spot?" Sakura snickered, slumping to the ground next to Itachi, who had managed to get to the lunch spot before her. He shook his head, and Sakura pulled out her pink bento box, filled with a lunch prepared by her mother. It was a rare event when her mother had time to make her bento, so Sakura couldn't help but to feel slightly excited as she dug her chopsticks into the mound of sticky rice. Her mother's cooking was probably better than anyone else she knew.

Sasuke wasn't sure how, but he knew Sakura was going to be with his antisocial older brother. It annoyed the hell out of him, the fact that he had to share the pink haired elfin girl with someone so insolent as Itachi. She seemed determined, however, to drag the best of him out, and so it would be natural that she hung around him. Not.

Why did she even care about his older brother, Sasuke wondered to himself. He wasn't worth seeing the best of; there was no redeeming feature in him to see. Itachi was a cruel, uncaring person, and there was nothing else to him. Yet, he had somehow caught her attention, and she was seemingly unwilling to see anything else. What was more, she had been crying about something the night before, and Sakura had gone to Itachi of all people for her condolences. The idea of Itachi comforting a person was unacceptable, and yet, he had seen his unemotional brother _soothing_ the girl, as if he really cared. It was downright disturbing.

Sasuke tromped through the hallways, the loud sound of his steps echoing off of the walls as he searched for the unlikely couple. Then he had to consider, where they more than just friends? There was no way, he decided, continuing his search for Sakura, and Naruto following shortly behind him. Naruto was sputtering nonsense as usual, and the irritable raven haired boy saw no reason in paying attention to his ridiculousness.

Naruto resolved to act as he usually would, saying things that never made sense, and acting like nothing short of a clown. He knew something was going on though, he could tell by how stubbornly determined Sasuke was to find Sakura. Naruto smirked inwardly, knowing all to well that the silent Uchiha might have found a girl he deemed worthy. Naruto may have always acted like a complete imbecile, but he was much more observant of his best friend then he let on. He knew Sasuke must have somehow grown attached to the girl during the past week, because Naruto had never seen him so desperate to protect someone from the evil clutches of Itachi.

"Sakura!" Sasuke had called out in relief as soon as he had seen her. This relief lasted shortly however, when he saw her sitting it the _emo-hole_, eating her lunch with King of Emos. He looked at the two of them in disgust, and then at the graffiti above their heads. It wasn't shocking to him that Itachi would defile school property, but the fact that Sakura would too was.

Sakura looked up from her almost-gone bento at hearing her name be called. She felt herself grin widely as she saw who had called it. Itachi glanced towards Sakura, and then the owner of the voice who always seemed to grate on his nerve so regularly. Was it completely impossible for him to avoid his family wherever he went?

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto-kun! Are you here to join us for lunch?" She chirped in English, seeing as Naruto couldn't speak Japanese to understand her. Sasuke's face scrunched up at her suggestion, giving away his dislike of the idea. He wouldn't be caught dead spending time at school with his brother; his image would be completely flushed down the toilet of social life.

"Teme probably doesn't want to, since emo-bitch is here. But I would!" Naruto trilled, siting on the ground facing Sakura.

"Shut the hell up, dobe. And don't sit down, we're not staying. And stop calling me teme." Sasuke growled, crossing his arms angrily in front of his chest. Sakura giggled at the boy's statements, her laughter almost asking how he managed to say a grand total of three sentences at once. It might have been the most she ever heard from him.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, are you going out with emo-bitch or something?" Naruto asked bluntly, knowing Sasuke wanted to know, but didn't have the guts to ask. Sakura blanched at the very thought, and Itachi looked utterly repulsed. Neither of them had to say anything on the matter, their facial expressions were enough of an answer. They were clearly not together in any way, shape or form.

"See, you have nothing to worry about, Teme." Naruto stood back up and elbowed his best friend in the side. Sasuke looked horrified by his friends implications, but it seemed that Sakura hadn't understood the meaning to them.

"Stop calling me that, Dobe." Was all Sasuke could say to his friend, whom he thought was completely oblivious. Apparently Naruto deserved more credit than what he received. Ignoring the rant that Naruto began after his comment, Sasuke turned to Sakura once more.

"Sakura, do you want to study or something this afternoon?" He asked her hopefully. With the puppy-dog look he was giving her, she couldn't refuse.

"Sure, Sasuke-kun. Do you want to study at my house or yours?" She nodded her head. Itachi glowered at his younger brother, though he wasn't sure why it bothered him that they would be studying together. It shouldn't matter what they did with each other, as long as his brother didn't bother him. Yet, it did.

"It doesn't matter to me." Sasuke muttered, though in reality it did matter it him. He didn't want to go over to his house. His brother would be there, and then Sakura would be hanging out with Itachi instead of _him_.

"Why don't we go over to my house then," Sakura smiled, which Sasuke gladly returned, until she continued in saying, "You can come over too, Itachi."

Itachi looked between his brother standing in front of him, and the girl next to him, not sure what he should say. He didn't want to disappoint Sakura for some unnamed reason, but there was no way he wanted to spend a whole afternoon with his failure of a brother. He was vaguely aware that they were waiting for an answer to her invitation, but he was unsure of how to reply to her.

"I suppose I could come over, if you don't mind. But I'll have to leave early. My shift at Hot Topic starts at five." Itachi said, recalling that it was a Friday, and he worked the weekends. He loved his job at Hot Topic, not only because he earned some much needed money, but also because he got to listen to awesome music the whole time he was there.

"Okay! I'll be sure to make some dango for Itachi and I think I still have a bag of shrimp chips at home for Sasuke-kun!" She said excitedly. She was thankful that her two friends were willing enough to stand each other just to be with her.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, what about me? Can I come over too?" Naruto wriggled his eyebrows teasingly. Sakura laughed at his obvious flirtations.

"Sakura wants to study, not be your tutor, Dobe." Sasuke rolled his eyes. Sakura's laughter continued, growing in volume with their silly jests.

"Of course you can come over too, Naruto-kun." Sakura reassured him as soon as her laughter had subsided. He smiled brightly, and then smirked victoriously at his best friend, who was glaring back at him. It was supposed to be just him and Sakura, but now there was all of these tag-alongs.

"See, Teme, Sakura-chan is nice, unlike you. You could learn a few things from her." Naruto shook his head disapprovingly. This remark went unanswered though, as the bell indicating lunch was over rang just as Sasuke opened his mouth to speak.

"See you at my house, guys." Sakura stood up stiffly, after having sat on the hard ground for half an hour. They nodded their heads simultaneously, causing both Uchiha brothers to glare at each other in irritation.

"Do you two have to me constantly butting heads?" She asked dryly. They shared a look that said all too much.

"Pretty much." Itachi smirked. She rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but to smile. For boys, they could be undeniably predictable, Sakura thought to herself.

Sakura returned her bento to her locker before proceeding to her next class. The remainder of the day dragged by at an agonizingly slow rate, and when the bell that ended the day finally rang, it was hard for Sakura to not jump up and do a celebration dance in the middle of the classroom. She somehow restrained herself though, instead running to her locker to snatch up her books and then off once more for the bus.

The ride on the bus was crowded and therefor over heated, much to Sakura's displeasure. The constant blare of her earphones could hardly mask the obnoxious yelling and talking of the other students around her. She could honestly say that she hated riding the bus everyday. There was no avoiding it though, her mother worked and she didn't have a license yet. Until she got one, she was going to have to suffer the consequences of being too young. Just a few more weeks, she told herself. Just a few more weeks and she would be sixteen.

Sighing, she got off at her stop and walked home. After fumbling with her set of keys to the house, she stalked up the stairs and threw her bag onto her bed, wrinkling the comforter with the impact of her heavy backpack. Sakura barely had enough time to change into something more casual before there was a knock on the front door. Pulling her t-shirt down over her head, Sakura practically jumped down the stairwell to get to the door.

"Sheesh, you guys didn't even give me time to make the snacks!" She complained, opening the door to a very interesting situation. As always, Sasuke and Itachi were glaring daggers at each other with no intention of giving up anytime soon, but the amusing part was how poor Naruto was stuck between them, just waiting for one of them to pounce. At the sound of her voice, the brothers redirected their attention to her, though losing the angry look.

"You did not give a specific time." Itachi noted, as if it explained why they should come over as soon as she had gotten home. Sakura let them in anyway, they were just a bunch of clueless guys anyway, boys who lacked knowledge on girls, and how they hated not having time to get prepared.

"Wow, Sakura-chan! You have such a nice house!" Naruto exclaimed as he took off his sneakers and walked into the living room. Sakura flinched from his volume, but said nothing. It was just like old times, when she would hang out with Hidan, Sasori and Deidara. They had completely different personalities of course, but she was once again, spending most of her time with boys.

"Not so loud, Dobe. And it's her room that's cool." Sasuke muttered. The blonde squinted knowingly at the oblivious boy with spiked raven hair.

"You would know that from experience, of course." Naruto smirked, his expression giving away his dirty thoughts. His wild imagination was going crazy, no doubt he was picturing Sasuke and Sakura doing things that was very inappropriate. He wriggled his eye-brows, glancing back and forth from the two teenagers.

"Both Sasuke and I have seen Sakura's room, though not for the reasons you seem to want to think." Itachi told the imaginative blond dryly. Naruto scowled, having liked his idea better than the truth.

"Stop being a pervert, Naruto-kun." Sakura poked her head out of the kitchen to glare at the three boys. She returned to her station, warming up the dango and boiling water for tea. As she let them heat, Sakura opened a bag of Shrimp Chips and dumped the contents in a big bowl to serve.

"Who wants coke?" She called to the other room. Both Naruto and Sasuke answered, not that she was all that surprised. Soda didn't go all that well with something like dango. As she pulled the cokes out of the refrigerator, someone appeared behind her, she turned around to see that it was Itachi.

"Do you need any help?" He asked quietly. She smiled understanding his real motive for leaving the living room. It must have been too awkward for him to sit in the room with both his brother and his brother's best friend. He must have been dangerously outnumbered with the two younger boys. She couldn't help but to sympathize for him, even if it was his own bad attitude that caused his problems, that and Sasuke's equally bad attitude.

"No, but thanks, Itachi." Sakura murmured, then added smartly, "You really should get over this stupid sibling rivalry. The awkwardness won't go away until you do."

He stilled in his shock, not sure how he should respond to her comment. She was right, of course, but that didn't really change anything. Itachi still wasn't going to give up his dignity just for some peace of mind. Sasuke was going to be the first to relent, not him. Until that happened, he was just going to have to suffer his younger brother's antics.

"Fine, I can sort of understand." She chuckled. Itachi was so easy for her to read, and he was just beginning to understand this. Sakura was the only one he knew that could understand what his eyes were saying, and Itachi wasn't sure if this was a good thing or not. It may make things easier for him, he might be able to leave things unsaid, but it would still be understood. Then again, was that a good thing?

"What exactly did you want to study?" Itachi asked, changing the subject abruptly. Sakura gave him a confused look, one that made him feel a little uncomfortable.

"The study thing was obviously an excuse for Sasuke to hang out with me. I doubt we'll really be opening any text books, Itachi." Sakura said, as if it was the clearest thing to see. Itachi tilted his head in his bafflement, wondering if what she said was true. He couldn't imagine why his brother would make up such a feasible excuse to be with Sakura, if only for a few hours. As far as he knew, Sasuke wasn't one to hang out with people without having a reason to do so.

"Is that so?" He muttered blandly. Where did that put him then? What was his reason for him being there if it wasn't for a study session? He supposed he could go home and just get his homework out of the way before his shift at Hot Topic, but that would seem spineless, like he was just trying to avoid his brother.

"I would have figured you would know that much, Itachi." Sakura said slyly, giving him a pointedly sneaking glance. He felt his forehead scrunch up as his eyebrows knitted together. It was certainly not all that obvious to him, he didn't have experience with girls, or any other social endeavors, for that matter. She shouldn't have expected him to be able to read into his younger brother's intentions, and his implications when deciding to tag along.

"Hn." He answered, his eyes still glaring into nothing. Sakura quietly sighed to herself, and then handed him the platter of dango and the tea pot that went with it.

"Help me carry these up to my room?" She asked, grabbing the sodas and bowl of chips to bring upstairs. He nodded his head, and followed her down the hall and as she made her way up the stairs.

"Come on guys! We're going into my room!" Sakura called down to Sasuke and Naruto as she kicked open her bedroom door. She set the bowl and sodas down on the low-set table in the middle of the room, and walked up to her small, pink CD player. It wasn't as kick-ass as Itachi's, but it would do.

"Do you mind some Linkin Park?" She smirked.

"Which album?" He asked, returning the smirk mischievously. His brother was just going to _love_ her music choice. Not.

"Meteora." Her grin widened. He said nothing, but instead nodded his head, approving her selection. She popped the CD into the player, and just as the music began to play, Naruto and Sasuke joined them.

"Eww." They both uttered at the screeching sound of the vocal artist. Sakura was pretty sure that she actually saw Sasuke shutter. Not being able to help it, she laughed at their disgust. Sakura wondered if Naruto listened to the same kind of music as Sasuke.

"What, is my room messy, or something?" She joked casually. Sasuke wasn't sure why it bothered him so much that Sakura listened to the same awful music as his brother; maybe it was because it made them ever so slightly more similar to each other.

"No, Sakura-chan, your room is actually pretty cool, it's just I wasn't really expecting the music." Naruto said faintly, beginning to regain his lost composure. Itachi and Sakura snickered, both of them sitting down at the table to enjoy their sweet treat while listening to the soothing music. Well, soothing to them, anyway.

"Please tell me that you listen to normal music, Sakura-chan, like Miley Cyrus or Taylor Swift." Naruto begged, opening his coke can and taking a sip. She literally choked on the green tea she was drinking, absolutely horrified with the idea of listening to either of the girly-girl pansy artists. Itachi look just as horrified, just by the mere mentioning of the pop artists. If she did listen to crap like that, he was going to have to purge her of the sissy music.

"Oh, _hell_ no." She said, sounding slightly insulted by the seemingly innocent question. Itachi was thankful for that, he didn't want to have to tie her to a chair and then blast screamo in her ears as loud as the volume could go.

Sasuke wasn't surprised by her offended tone, she had acted the same as when they were in Itachi's room. Still, he didn't like it that she listened to the same crap as his brother. He supposed that over time she might purified of the dreadful stuff, but he would have to get rid of Itachi's influence permanently first. Based on how close they seemed to be after only a few days, that wasn't going to be an easy task.

The silence that followed between them seemed to be intensified because of the roar of music, but nobody seemed to know how to break it. If it had just been her and Itachi, or just her Naruto and Sasuke, it wouldn't have been so cumbersome, but with all three of them together, the stillness was deafening. She should have known she couldn't be with all of them at once, Sakura thought glumly.

"Okay, who wants to see me model my Harajuku clothes?" She finally said, trying to lighten the mood. Sasuke tried to hide his embarrassment by looking away, but his reddened face did not go unnoticed by Sakura. Even when it was out of sight, his red ears were clearly visible.

"Harajuku, you mean like short skirts and lace Harajuku? Hell yeah, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, being completely serious. Sakura could feel her jaw drop into a wide open gape at his ridiculousness. She had only been joking, but apparently he didn't seem to think she was.

"Naruto-kun, I was just kidding. I wasn't really planing on changing into one of my outfits." She said weakly, looking from Sasuke to Naruto and then to Itachi. Sasuke wouldn't even look in his direction, Naruto was giving her the puppy eyes, and Itachi looked throughly disgruntled by her statement. She sighed, not believing she was about to do this.

"Fine, then. Itachi, which one should I put on?" Sakura asked tiredly. His eyes shot up, and though his facial expression didn't change, she could tell he was pleased he had asked him by how his onyx eyes lightened up. He would never show how happy he really was in front of Sasuke by giving her a brilliant, rare smile, and she understood that much, but it didn't matter, she could see enough in just the look he gave her.

Itachi stood up stiffly, his back tightly wound up from sitting on the floor for such a long time, and made his way to the closet filled with her Harajuku clothes, and much to Naruto and Sasuke's disturbance, he opened it. He sifted quickly through the line of frayed black skirts and corsets until he found one he reckoned to be worthy. Wordlessly, he handed her his choice. With a blank face, he watched her eyes widen in surprise at his pick. She approved however, and with a smirk, left the boys to their own devices while she changed in the bathroom.

"What the hell was that?" Sasuke asked rigidly once she had left the room. Itachi's eyebrows lifted in honest surprise. It didn't really matter if he knew where she kept her clothes, did it? All he did was pick out an outfit for her to try on, it wasn't really a big deal. At least it shouldn't have mattered much.

"I see no reason for you to make this into a big ordeal, Sasuke." Itachi told him dryly. Both younger boys looked as if they disagreed, and that they thought it was very understandable for them to be shock by his bold actions.

"This might be shocking to you, Emo-bitch, but it isn't normal for dudes to pick through girl's clothes. It's just weird." Naruto muttered. Sasuke gave him a look that clearly said he shared the same opinion.

"_She_ showed it to me before." Itachi said, feeling strangely out of sorts. He wasn't sure why, but their pointedly disapproving looks were making him nervous. Much to his relief, Sakura returned, wearing the outfit she had chosen. It had a black lacy top with a fair amount of cleavage and puffed sieves. The skirt was exceedingly short, and the bottom was frayed, and ribbons were weaved into the entire outfit. She had put on a pair of gloves and long socks that matched nicely. In her hair was a cat-ear headband.

To Itachi, it was probably one of the most stunning thing he had ever seen. Anyone would have thought it, he realized, she was breathtaking. Sasuke wasn't into the whole gothic lolita style, but when he saw Sakura, he knew he could get used to it. Naruto looked at both of the Uchiha brothers, and knew they were both thinking the same thing. He couldn't deny it either, she was hot.

"Nice choice, Emo-bitch. Eh, Teme?" Naruto said, staring at the slightly flustered pink haired girl in a very obvious way. If it had been anyone else, Sakura would have felt violated.

"Stop calling me that." Both brothers said, only to turn and glare at each other. Sakura sighed in defeat. Did they really have to be so impossible, she wondered in silent amazement. By now though, their constant bickering was starting to get on her already worn out nerves.

"Could you two knock it off for once? I put this on to lighten the mood, not for you guys to dampen it even more." Sakura growled frustratedly. She had half the mind to go all karate on their asses. It wouldn't have made them act any more cordial towards each other, so she decided not to. It would only disgrace them anyway.

"Don't you have a job to go to on the weekends, or something, Itachi?" Sasuke asked, knowing that his brother would never not show up for his precious job at the stupid emo/gothic/freak show store he liked so much. Itachi looked up at the clock on the wall, which clearly read four-thirty, much to his disappointment. He had half a hour before his shift started, meaning it was time he headed home to get ready. He hated to admit it, but Sasuke was right, he had to go.

"Where do you work?" Sakura asked, legitimately curious. Sasuke rolled his eyes, as if the store where Itachi worked at was the most predictable place anyone could think of. When he really thought about it, Itachi knew Sasuke was right, he did work at the most stereotypical emo-boy job there was to get in the country.

"Hot Topic."

At these two simple words, Sakura went into the Oh-em-gee-get-me-discount mode. This reaction didn't really come as a surprise to Itachi, but it was a little irritating to both Naruto and Sasuke. Did she really need anymore gothic fashion, of all things?

"We can talk about discounts later. I have to leave." Itachi muttered exasperatedly. With a smirk fixed on her face, she nodded her head, and then leaded him down the stairs and to the door, for the sake of politeness. By now, Itachi knew his way around her house enough to get to the front door.

"See you later, Itachi! We can study for real if you want tomorrow!" She yelled after him cheerfully as he walked back to his house. Now that he was alone, Itachi didn't bother to hide his smile. Maybe he was going crazy, but he was looking forward to his study session with Sakura. Itachi wondered if that was what if felt like to have a friend. Then he randomly mused, what would it be it like to have a girlfriend?

What the hell was wrong with him, he yelled to himself as he opened the front door and then continued up to his room. Grumbling to himself, he threw off his uniform in exchange for a pair of skinny black jeans (what a big surprise) and a black button-up shirt that was loosely showing his chest. Dressed, he pocketed his wallet and then chained it to his studded belt. After quickly applying another layer of black eyeliner, he jumped back down the stairs and into his Audi. The drive to Hot Topic in the nearest mall was short, Itachi had only enough time to listen to a few songs before he had reached his destination.

As usual, the blare of music some seemed to think would give them a heart attach was playing on the inside when Itachi walked inside. He walked into the back room to get his keys, and then returned out front to man the cash register. At the beginning of his shift, it was slow moving; he only made a few sales, and he had to help direct this little old lady to a more appropriate store when she was cluelessly trying to buy death metal for her ten year old grandson.

It wasn't until the mall was starting to stop business all together that his manager came up to him to ask for assistance. Apparently, there was a group of young men who only spoke japanese, and they needed help with something, at least according to the manager. He found said group in the back of the store, snickering to each other about a certain skull laden bra. Itachi wasn't sure why, but the three of them look vaguely familiar, and he wondered if he had seen them before.

One was a blonde, whose hair was drawn into a high ponytail; and he quite clearly flaunted his sexuality, at least in Itachi's opinion. Another had Burgundy like hair that was short and sloppy, and it was obvious he was _with_ the first one. The last in the trio had a shock of white hair slicked back, and seemed to be vulgar to an extreme. It took a lot of his will power for Itachi to approach the diverted group. Nonetheless, it was his job to do so, and therefor he did.

"Do the three of you acquire assistance?" Itachi asked, keeping his face straight and void of all emotion. The three turned around in surprise, none of them having expected one of the clerks to be able to speak Japanese.

"No, we don't need your help-" The Deidara said angrily, taking the hand of the redhead protectively. Itachi's eyes widened a fraction, and he wondered what in the world the blonde was thinking. Itachi most definitely did _not_ swing that way.

"Actually, we're looking for a present for a friend of ours." The Sasori interrupted him, gazing lazily at first the blonde holding his hand and then the black haired boy who worked there. Hidan took a second to look at Itachi as well, when he reached a conclusion.

"How's about we fuckin' wrap up pretty boy over here. She would fuckin' love that shit."

Itachi paled considerably at the white haired stranger's words, not sure if he wanted to help the trio anymore. Part of him was curious about who _she_ was, but the smarter half of him was screaming for him to run for his dear life. Luckily, he wasn't a coward, and so he did nothing of the sort, even if the looks they were giving him were making him uncomfortable.

"I'm afraid that I'm not for sale." Itachi said briskly, his shoulders stiff and his legs locked. All three of them laughed, laughed more than what was strictly necessary. Itachi's eyebrows knit together; he wasn't used to people making fun of him, it was always the other way around.

"He wasn't serious. Our friend would kick his stupid ass if he really tied you up in a big ribbon, or something like that." Sasori said calmly, freeing his hand from Deidara's but only to place it on his slender waist.

"I was completely fuckin' serious! She would fuckin' go all sugary on his ass!" Hidan complained, though with the shared looks he recieved from Sasori and Deidara. It was clear to Itachi that they, at least, had some common sense.

"Who ever she is, I doubt that she would want a brassier from three men." Itachi stated reproachfully. The vulgar one glared at him, now that both of his gift plans were throughly foiled, but the other two seemed to agree.

"She would kick your ass if you got that for her, un." Deidara sighed, shaking his head at his hopelessly clueless friend. Hidan knew that he was right though. Sakura would have pounded him so hard that it would take weeks for him to be able to eat solids again. She was one of his best friends, besides the two idiots he was with now, but Sakura could be downright scary when she wanted to be.

"We should have bought something back in Japan." Sasori grumbled, but he knew that if they had gone shopping in Harajuku, they wouldn't be able to fit all the crap they bought for her in their suitcases for the flight over. She would have been ecstatic, but they might not have even made it through security.

"I'm sure Temari-chan and Gaara-kun will have something perfectly awesome from Japan for her, un. Their dad heads that huge company, so they probably have more money to spend on her, un." Deidara murmured caringly into Sasori's ear. Itachi could swear he felt his face turn red. It wasn't like he was anti-homosexuals, but it still made his stomach bubble at seeing them so close together.

"Can you two do that when we're not out in public? It's like, fuckin' gross." Hidan complained, and just for his distress, Sasori pecked Deidara on the cheek. Itachi was pretty sure he was going to either throw up, or die from his mortification. Much to his relief, the couple turned to him for advice on what was best in the store.

Itachi diligently showed them everything he thought they might want to buy, completely avoiding the underwear section. In the end, they had bought several pairs of earrings, a few pairs of obnoxiously colored skinny jeans, a cat skelanimal, and some new suspenders. Pleased with their purchases, they left, leaving an exhausted Itachi in their wake.

Too tired to celebrate their biggest sale it what could be weeks with his manager and coworkers, Itachi trudged to his car at the end of his shift, wanting nothing more than to just collapse on his bed. At arriving home, he ignored his mother's pleas for him to join them for dinner, and slumped up the stairs, planning on doing exactly that. Itachi tossed his clothes onto the floor in a pile then crawled into bed. He didn't really care that he should remove the eyeliner first, and that his eyes would feel swollen the next morning for leaving it on.

Though he was completely wiped out from the emotionally draining day, Itachi could not seem to be able to fall asleep. He kept tossing and turning, twisting himself into the thick comforters of his bed. Irritably, he threw the blankets off of him, only to feel cold the next minute because he wore nothing more than a pair of boxers. He pulled the bedding back onto himself grumpily, feeling throughly agitated. Grumbling incoherently to himself, Itachi continued to toss and turn in irritation, unable to find a comfortable position.

Itachi then remembered that he hadn't had anything to drink or eat since he left Sakura's house, and he wondered if that was the reason for his inability to fall asleep. Huffing, he forced himself up and out of bed. Not bothering to put his clothing back on, he stumbled down the stairwell and to the well lit kitchen. Continuing to grouch almost silently, Itachi blindly got a glass of water, keeping his eyes shut from the offensively bright light.

He ignored Naruto's snide comment on how_ goddamned pale_ his whole body was, Itachi made his way back into the dark safety of his room, munching half heartedly on an apple. The fucking loud-mouthed blonde must have come over for dinner after leaving Sakura's house, Itachi thought angrily. Finding himself not all that hungry, he chucked the unfinished apple into the trash by his desk. Sighing, he gulped down the rest of his water and then fell back into his bed.

Itachi hated feeling like this, he hated not being able to fall asleep. It always happened to him when something was bothering him, and the feeling wouldn't go away until he figured out what the problem was. Yes, the three Japanese customers had been tiring, and yes, they had used up all put a little of his patience before they left, but he knew that wasn't what was keeping him up.

Before he knew it, his mind had flown to Sakura. Perhaps she was what was bugging him so relentlessly, he growled inwardly. It couldn't be her though, he told himself after a couple seconds. She was his friend, nothing more, nothing less, he had to tell himself. For some reason, the pink haired pixie had been occupying much of his mind for the past day, which wasn't normal, and he knew it. She was so fiery and passionate though, and yet so thoughtful and caring.

This was wrong. He had just told her he wanted to be only friends, and then his stupid hormones had to get in the way of his common sense. At least he knew what his problems were; Sakura, and his dumb ass. She wasn't to blame though, Sakura had only needed a friend, and for some reason, she had found one in him, of all people. The gothic lolita dress he had seen her in probably was to blame though. He knew the cause to his distress now though, and this allowed him to fall into a restless sleep.

**A/N: Okay, people. You guys know the routine. Press the stupid review button!!! My lack of feed back is making me sad!! Do you have a heart at all? LOL.**

**~Itaweasel-hime**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Wow, I'm back from my grandparent's, and I swear I was going to die. No computer for two weeks was a living hell, but I wrote this in a notebook for you guys (Not that I had anything better to do there)! **

Sakura was peacefully sleeping in her bed when she was woken from the loud sound made by the doorbell. She groaned and rolled over, hoping that her mother was awake so she could go back to sleep. Her mother must not have been up yet though, as the bell rang again. Mumbling incoherently to herself, she tumbled out from under the covers and stumbled to the door. She opened it to glare at the nuisance who had been about to ring the offending bell again.

"Itachi, what are you doing here so early in the morning?" She drawled, having to lean on the doorframe to stay on her feet. He glazed over her appearance quickly, noting how her clothes were not exactly fit to be seen by anyone, and that her hair was sticking up more than it usually did. Unless Sakura was the type of person to laze the day away in pajamas, Itachi hypothesized that she had just woken up.

"Sakura, it's hardly early in the morning, it's eleven o'clock." He informed her, them watched as her expression grew perplexed. Sakura looked up at the sky, then at something in the house he assumed was a clock, and then back at him. She then remembered how she had stayed up until five in the morning with her mother, doing girl things like giving each other beauty masks, and watching corny chick flicks. It may have been unusual for a teenager to 'talk boys' with her mother, but after what had happened that afternoon, she had needed to do so.

Sasuke had officially asked her out on a date. She had been so flattered that she blindly accepted his offer, not really thinking about what a date would entail. The date was set for that evening, but now she was beginning to get second thoughts about going out with Sasuke. He was cute, and occasionally kind, but Sakura had this misplaced sense of dread whenever she thought about him in a romantic way. Her mother had been as helpful as always, telling her to follow her heart. Sakura had replied in telling her to stop watching so many sappy romance films.

"Sorry Itachi. I stayed up too late last night. Come in." Sakura sighed, running a hand through her disheveled pink hair in an attempt to tidy it. Itachi slipped off his all stars and left them by the door. He followed her into the kitchen where she found a note left by her mother.

_Saku-chan, _

_Ohayo gozaimasu! I'm sorry if you wake up and I'm still gone. I should be home at around noon. Be a good girl and don't worry too much about Sasuke-kun._

_Kaa-san_

Of course she would mention the date that Sakura was dreading, she thought. Sighing, she crumbled up the piece of paper and tossed it into the trash before Itachi could see it. Wordlessly, she pulled out a bowl and poured in her cereal and soy milk. Taking a bite, she sat down at the table to eat.

"I tried calling you, but you never answered your cell." Itachi said, sitting down across from Sakura. She looked up from her bowl of Raisin Bran, somewhat surprised. Before she could ask how he got her number, he continued in saying, "I got it from Sasuke."

He sounded rather put out by it all, meaning he already knew about the date. He tilted his head down so she couldn't see into his charcoal eyes. Itachi hadn't felt so attached to the pink haired pixie until he found out she was probably taken, at least that's what he repetitively told himself. It was equivalent to wanting to taste the forbidden fruit, because that's what she was.

"Are you mad at me?" She asked softly, trying to look into his hidden eyes. Itachi longed to yell _yes_, and to tell her that _he_ should be the one taking her out. Then he remembered what they had promised each other, how they had agreed that in staying just friends. She would never like him, and he just had to pretend that he felt the same.

"No, I just wish I hadn't heard it from my overly-excited brother." Itachi lied smoothly. Of course this was partially true, he didn't like hearing Sasuke's obnoxious bragging first thing in the morning, especially after such an awful night's sleep. It was still better to hear it from him though, rather than Sakura. He didn't have to bother with hiding his anger with Sasuke, but when he was around Sakura, he did. Itachi had come over fully prepared to hear about it, and had even been thankful that Sasuke had shoved it in his face. The only thing that could have been better was if there was no date at all.

He looked back up at her through his long eyelashes to see that Sakura had continued in eating her cereal. She wasn't sure, but for some reason, Sakura felt disappointed with his answer. It was for the best though, she told herself. She wasn't sure she could handle the affections of two Uchiha boys. If that happened, she would eventually have to choose between them, leaving one broken and dejected. Let some other girl be the cause of that, not her.

Itachi watched as Sakura drank the last dregs of her soy milk by tilting the bowl upwards into her mouth. Right through those lush, red lips that made his heart jump into his throat at seeing, he couldn't help but to think. She sighed, and stood up to rinse out her bowl. Once finished with washing it off, Sakura boldly took his hand and dragged him up the stairs. She had to be insane, he thought, she wasn't supposed to hold hands with her boyfriend's brother, at least as far as he knew. Itachi had to tell himself to shut up, knowing that she wasn't technically Sasuke's girlfriend yet, they were just going out on a date.

"Itachi, your nail polish is chipped." Sakura observed, dropping his hand. He looked at his fingernails and realized she was right, but still didn't understand her point. She smiled to herself as she picked up a bottle of black nail polish and shook it hopefully.

"You want to do my nails?" He asked dubiously. She left for the bathroom and quickly returned with cotton swabs and nail polish remover.

"You can do mine if you let me do yours." She said, giving him the begging look Itachi could never refuse. Sighing tiredly, he nodded his head, unable to say no to her doe-like green eyes. He wouldn't admit as much, but he found her bright green eyes to be more captivating than anything else. How could he let himself fall to this? He had liked her. This was a dangerous boat to be in, if anyone, Sakura especially, found out about it.

"I can take off the old polish myself." He muttered, grabbing the bottle of pink liquid, and then pouring some of it out onto a cotton swab. He began to rub the black polish off, and she soon followed in suite.

"You know, I'm not sure what to do with your brother. It was so out of the blue when he asked me out." Sakura murmured, unscrewing the nail polish and taking one of his hands. Itachi was unsure of how to respond, but felt that he shouldn't stay quiet in such a situation.

"Sakura, I'm hardly the right person to be talking to about this." Itachi replied dryly. She laughed, supposing he was right, and continued in polishing his nails their usual black color. He watched her face as she determinedly painted his nails, her soft, cool hand steadying his. She looked utterly breathtaking to him, even in her just-woken-up look, which was _not_ a good thing. She unofficially belonged to Sasuke, she did as soon as she had said yes.

"I know you said I shouldn't be talking to you about this, but I'm really not looking forward to my date tonight. I just have this bad feeling about it." Sakura sighed, waiting for him to complain again. He didn't though, and she was thankful for that. For reasons she couldn't explain, she had an easier time talking with Itachi than almost anyone else. He was more understanding than anyone in America, at least in her opinion.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to." Itachi said, hoping she would agree and then decline from Sasuke's unwanted offer. She shook her head though, much to his dismay.

"I couldn't do that. I already told him I would go, and he deserves a chance." She said saddened, though not really catching Itachi by surprise. Sakura seemed to be the sort of person who put others before herself. It was cruel really, that he was being jealous of Sasuke, while she was going to suffer for him of all people. He didn't like it, he didn't like it one bit.

"Would you go out with Naruto just because he deserves a chance?" Itachi asked rhetorically. She grimaced at the thought, which he was grateful for. At least he didn't have to compete with the flamboyant blonde as well as his foolish little brother.

"Maybe, if he asked." She replied just to spite him. Itachi rolled his eyes, seeing through her obvious act.

"You're a terrible liar." Itachi muttered, fanning his hand to help the polish dry faster as she began on the next hand. To this she said nothing, because she knew he was right in saying she was a bad liar. They silently transitioned to him painting her nails carefully in the same black color.

Itachi was still busy with painting Sakura's nails when the door opened to reveal three obnoxious Japanese boys. Itachi instantly recognized them from Hot Topic, and realized that _Sakura_ had been the girl he had stopped them from buying a bra for. How they had gotten here was the true question. This was quickly answered when they heard Sakura's mother yell up at them, "You guys be good up there, I have to go out again!" Clearly, she had seen the need to bring them over.

"Dei-chan, Saso-chan, Hidan-kun!" Sakura exclaimed excitedly, quickly forgetting that Itachi had been trying to paint her nails. Before she could jump up in her delight, he closed the bottle of polish to prevent a disastrous mess from occurring. Sakura pounced on the three boys and with no restraint, hugged them desperately. They hugged her back, and together they laughed at some untold joke. Itachi just watched, and couldn't help but to wonder if even Sasuke, the one with the date, had a chance.

"Saku-chan, we missed you so much! We just had to come for your sixteenth!" Deidara squealed, then loosened himself from Sakura's hold to kiss her broad forehead. She giggled appreciatively, and then kissed each of them on the cheek. Seeing his prospects of ever being with Sakura dwindle even further, Itachi cleared his throat nervously, drawing the attention of the four caught in an embrace.

"Saku-chan, why is the dude who works at Hot Topic in your room... Painting your nails?" Deidara asked slyly, being the first to speak. Sakura rolled her eyes, ignoring his implications.

"This is Itachi; we go to the same school." Sakura elaborated, not in the least abashed. Hidan snickered at Itachi's obvious discomfort. It was clear he didn't like the fact that they were so close to Sakura that they called her by the same nickname her mother did. She was their _Saku-chan_.

Deidara, Sasori and Hidan were three years older than Sakura, and had known her since she was born. Her father had owned Akatsuki Incorporated, and their fathers had all worked under him. Because of this, the four of them were often thrown together, until they had become inseparable. When Sakura got older, and found interest in Harajuku fashion and emo music, they had only grown closer, despite their differences in age and gender. they had been there for her when her father had died, at times when her mother couldn't be. They were a family.

"You seem rather close for someone who you just go to school with." Sasori stated blandly, glancing back and forth from Sakura and the boy who had been doing her nails. It may have only lasted a second, but Sasori noticed the look of protectiveness he had for her that gave away too much. Sasori was surprised Sakura hadn't picked up on it yet, it was clear the boy had feelings for her. Sasori might have been confident enough to say he liked her.

"Well, I guess so." Sakura mumbled, flopping herself onto her bed. She was utterly comfortable with the three older men, and Itachi wasn't afraid to admit he didn't like it. He would never willingly let them know how jealous he was though. All they had to know was that she was important to him; they didn't need to know how much he really cared for her.

"So, where did you two meet?" Hidan teased. Itachi glared at the older male, who also seemed to be picking up on his sentiments for Sakura.

"It's not like that, Hidan. Don't make me kick your ass." Sakura glowered at him, making him gulp nervously. He could honestly say he hated it when she got into one of her _moods_.

"Aw, but Saku-chan, I think you'd be really cute with emo-boy from Hot Topic, un." Deidara whined. At this she only sent him a spine-tingling glare, which served to silence him. Only Sasori wasn't afraid of her threatening scowls, as he could be equally scary when he wanted to be.

"Deidara's right, they'd be a good couple, but that's besides the point. If Saku-chan says that they're just friends, then that's all there is to it. There's no need to patronize her for her lack of boyfriend history." Sasori said calmly, silencing both opposing parties quickly. Instead of arguing, Sakura, Hidan and Deidara gasped in shock. Itachi looked at them in bewilderment, forgetting how embarrassing it was to hear them talk about him and Sakura so casually.

"That must have been a fuckin' record! I've never fuckin' heard him say so fuckin' much!" Hidan exclaimed. Deidara and Sakura giggled at his ranting, while Sasori rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest in irritation. He couldn't understand why people always overreacted to him talking. Perhaps that was why he didn't talk very often.

"Saku-chan, I just noticed, but you're only wearing boxers and a spaghetti strap shirt, un! You bad, bad girl! You have a guest, un!" Deidara pointed out, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively. Sakura laughed, while Itachi tried, and failed, to hide his flushed face. Everyone seemed to notice it besides Sakura, who was too busy laughing to see much of anything.

"Okay boys, be good. I'm going to take a shower, so be nice to Itachi." Sakura said, closing her bedroom door behind her as she left. There was a few seconds silence as Hidan, Sasori and Deidara shared a knowing look. In those few moments, Itachi felt killing himself more than he ever had before.

Sakura poked her head back in to say, "Dei-chan, come with me. The rest of you can chose my outfit."

At this, Itachi looked absolutely horrified, he couldn't believe Sakura had just told a full grown man to go into the bathroom while she would be _naked_. He failed to remember that said full grown man was completely gay.

"Hidan, If you pick out the black lingerie again, I'll kill you!" was all they heard as a warning, so both Hidan and Sasori opened her drawers.

"We should have bought her those bras at Hot Topic, even if she did kill us. It would have been fuckin' worth it." Hidan muttered, digging through her underwear drawer. Itachi couldn't believe Sakura would actually allow someone to go through her drawers, and just sat there on the floor, staring at them in shock. He was grateful that the part of him that wanted to dig through her underwear too was small enough to ignore.

"Dei-chan, I really don't know what to do with myself." Sakura whined, slipping into the steaming shower. Despite her stress created by Sasuke, she was happier than she had been in a long while. It had been too long since the last time she had talked to her friend and taken a shower at the same time. It was strange, but Deidara was like her shrink, and his office was only open when she took a shower.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Saku-chan, but you need to reel that guy in, un. He is _hot_." He answered, sitting down on the closed toilet seat. He heard Sakura huff, and knew she was troubled about it. It was clear to him that they both had feelings for each other, it was just that they didn't realize each other's feelings. He wasn't sure if it would be right of him to point it out to her.

"Fill me in, Honey. Tell me everything that's going on between you and that hottie in there, un." He sighed, preparing himself for the guaranteed drama he was about to hear. Then again, he always did love a good gossip story.

"Well, at first we sort of hated each other, but then we found out how much we had in common, so we decided to be friends. I already kind of knew his younger brother, and the thing is, they hate each other's guts! At the same time, they both want to hang out with me. Then yesterday, after Itachi left to go to work, Sasuke asked me out. I like him and all, I think he's a great guy, but I can't ever think of him as more than a friend. I said yes though, because he at least deserves a chance, but then there's Itachi. We told each other that we would stay just friends, but some part of me wants it to be more than that! I have no clue how to deal with Itacho, and my date with Sasuke is tonight!" Sakura rambled. She was glad Deidara was there for her, he at least normally gave better advice than her mother. All her mother did when it came to romantic advice was quote movies.

"Just cancel the stupid date with this Sasuke person, and concentrate on Itachi, un. You shouldn't have to go out with someone you don't like, un." He told her. She knew he was right, Itachi had sad as much as well. That didn't change anything though, she was still going to go on the dreaded date with Sasuke.

"Does that mean I like Itachi?" Sakura wondered out loud. Deidara thought as much, but he couldn't make all of her decisions for her. She was going to have to figure it out herself. It wasn't going to work out in the future if he gave her all of the answers now.

"I can't tell you who you like or don't like, Saku-chan. But I can tell you that he has real feelings for you. I wouldn't pass that up it I were you, un." Deidara murmured. She said nothing more, too caught up in her thoughts to say anything. Sakura let the steam soothe her, and when she was relaxed once more, she shut off the hot water.

"Can you get me whatever ridiculous outfit they decided to put me?" Sakura asked calmly, wrapping a fluffy red towel around her torso. Deidara smirked to himself, looking forward to whatever they had chosen for her. Last time she had nearly killed Hidan, he had only sent her a black bra and lacy underwear along with an excess of gothic jewelry. Not to mention the knee-high black boots.

When Deidara entered the room, Itachi instantly glared at him, making Deidara assume it was about the whole shower ordeal. What gave the raven hared boy away the most was the pink of his cheeks. Or maybe Hidan and Sasori had decided to bug him about his obvious crush, despite Sakura's command for them to be nice. He couldn't say he was all that surprised, Sasori could e unusually protective of Sakura, and Hidan liked to bother anyone Sakura told him not to. Some things never changed, it seemed.

"So, what did you chose for her, Sasori-danna, un?" Deidara asked innocently, knowing Hidan had probably been more involved anyway. Itachi seemed to have flinched at his questioned, at least it looked like he had from the corner of his eyes. Perhaps it was indicating how bad the outfit really was, if Itachi was scared to see her in it.

"We decided to go with the layered sock look this time. Otherwise, it's the same as last time Saku-chan let us choose her clothes for her." Sasori muttered Deidara laughed and grabbed what Hidan had been holding. It was red lace lingerie this time, but there was still too much gothic jewelry, and instead of boots, there were several pairs of ostentatiously colored socks in different lengths to go with her trusty all-stars. She was bound to kill them for it, but it was worth giving her the clothes, even if it was just to embarrass her poor classmate. Then again, 'poor' Itachi might like it too much, and result in getting a nose bleed. Either way, it would be amusing.

Deidara left for the bathroom so he could deliver Sakura's 'outfit.' Before she could really see what it was, he shoved it into her arms and ran away, slamming the door shut as he went. The whole neighborhood could probably have heard her shouted profanities when she realized what they expected her to wear.

When Sakura's door flew open, Itachi was unable to advert his eyes elsewhere, away from her. To his horror, she had decided to barge in even though she wore nothing more than her undergarments. To make matters worse, they had put her in a push-up bra, of all things, which with the combination of bright red and too much cleavage, made it impossible for him to look away. Where they trying to give him away? In an attempt to look away, his eyes skimmed the rest of her body, and were instantly drawn to her lacy bottoms. How he wanted to hang himself for acting like such a lowly pervert.

"Hidan, I assume you're the one to blame for this?" Sakura seethed, ignoring Itachi's paled expression to glare at her smug looking friend. Smirking at her displeasure, he crossed his arms and silently congradulated himself for such a success.

"Do you remember the _last_ time you gave me only underwear?" She yelled angrily. His smile widened as an answer, as if to dare her. Completely forgetting she had only underwear on, she got into a battle stance, which unfortunately for Itachi, pulled her legs apart to far for his personal comfort.

Itachi wanted to get out, and fast. It was too dangerous, the way his eyes went back and forth between her breasts and the skin of her inner thigh. Before the miniscule perverted part of him took complete control, he needed to leave. He felt his face warm, which would be too readable. He had to stay somehow indifferent. He didn't like it, he didn't like it, he didn't like it. Itachi wanted to die.

While Itachi had been so throughly distracted, Sakura had punched Hidan squarely in the jaw, and then turned to him. She couldn't believe how badly she felt for him, it was obvious he was confused and horrified. Yet, there was something she needed him to know, before it was too late, and he jumped through a window. She walked over to where he sat and kneeled over.

"Itachi, don't you dare tell Sasuke about this." She ordered, lifting his chin up with a solitary finger so their eyes. He didn't have to answer, Itachi knew he wouldn't.

"What do you care if his fuckin' brother knows?" Hidan chuckled. rubbing his sore jaw.

"Because, they both have to make sure everything is perfectly even! I don't want to have to strip for Sasuke on my date!" She snapped at him. Itachi's eyes widened in terror, because he knew she was right. He was going to have to keep this secret until the day he died.

"I'm sorry Itachi, I told them to be nice. You can go home now, if you want." Sakura sighed, facing him once more. He honestly looked like he wanted to hang himself, and it was her fault. It was apparent to her that he had no romantic feelings for her after all. Maybe Deidara had been wrong for once.

"See you on Monday, Sakura." Itachi mumbled softly, leaving her bedroom in a sort of daze. He had just seen the girl he liked mostly naked, and he supposed that had given him some sort of testosterone high. As soon as he had left the house though, he felt completely exhausted, and he wanted to crawl back into bed. His shift was in a couple hours though, so it seemed that he didn't have time to toss and turn under the covers.

After kicking all of their stupid asses, Sakura had forgiven her older brothers as she always did. Now she had an even bigger dilemma to deal with, her date with Sasuke. She had no idea what to wear, as she wasn't sure where they were going, and she wasn't sure what he was expecting. Sakura wanted to be a good date, to wear something appropriate for whatever he had planned. Hidan was fully unhelpful, if he did help, she would end up wearing something too suggestive. Sasori was against the date entirely, so for her sake, refused to be of any use. All that was left was Deidara, and though he thought she should be going on a date with Itachi instead, he could never let Sakura down when she needed him.

"Saku-chan, I would stick with something more casual, if I were you, un. First dates are never formal anyway, un." Deidara sighed, slumping himself onto her neatly made bed. They had gone through her wardrobe what could have been five times already, and Hidan and Sasori had long ago abandoned them to watch a movie. Sakura supposed he was right, but 'casual' only helped her so much. She needed mote restrictions if she was going to get somewhere.

"Should I wear jeans, or a mini skirt?" She asked, but before she had even finished her question, she knew the answer. While jeans could be boring and too everyday wear-and-tear, a mini skirt would suggest that she was actually interested in him. It hat to be jeans. It wasn't as if she wanted his attention on her anyway. If she got her wish, Sasuke would be completely bored, and never bother to ask her out again.

"You can never go wrong with the classic, black skinny jeans, un." He assured her. She nodded in agreement and chose one out of the several pairs hanging in her closet. Sakura then went through her drawers to find something to go with it. It couldn't be black, Sasuke didn't appreciate the all-black fashion that Itachi did. She decided to wear an off-white lacy top with stringy little bows across the chest.

"How does this look, Dei-chan?" Sakura asked, modeling her selected outfit. He smiled approvingly, and gave her a cheesy thumbs-up. She looked somewhat sad, but at the same time, very beautiful. It was obvious that she didn't want to go on the date, but being the suffer-in-silence type of person she was, Deidara knew she was going to go through with it.

"Come on honey, I'll go do your makeup for you, un." He sighed. Her face lit up in excitement; Deidara was probably the best makeup artist she knew, and it was a rare event when he was willing to do it for someone. Even though she was determined to be utterly miserable on the upcoming date, at least she would look good for the occasion.

Sakura sat down on the counter in the bathroom, hardly able to hold in her excitement. Through mostly lidded eyes, she watched in awe as her friend applied eyeshadow and mascara masterfully. It took him an entire hour to finish her makeup, but when she saw her reflection in the mirror, Sakura knew it was worth the wait. Pleased with Deidara's work, she gingerly kissed his cheek in thanks, being sure to not ruin his hard work.

"Saku-chan, it looks like your date's gonna be here soon! We have to go pick out your shoes, un!" Deidara said anxiously, glancing down at his wristwatch. They half-ran, half-walked back to her room to choose a simple pair of strappy, off-white heels. She carefully walked down the stairs, not being use to wearing high heels. When receiving Hidan's hooting approval and Sasori's small smile, Sakura knew she was ready for Sasuke's arrival.

Nervously, Sakura sat down on the couch to join the boys in watching their movie. They had thrown in some poorly dubbed, old ninja film and only ended up shouting at the characters' stupidity. It served as a distraction though, and in time, she was insulting the bad acting as well.

Sasuke paced back and forth in front of Sakura's door, almost too nervous to ring the bell. He had dressed nicely for the date, and he knew how he should act, but he was still unconfident. He wanted to make a good impression, to be a total gentleman for Sakura.

Calling forth all of his courage, Sasuke forced himself to ring the doorbell. Behind the door, he heard several sets of heavy footsteps, all of them running for the door. There was muffled yells, and it sounded like there were several people fighting for the doorknob. Then he could clearly hear Sakura's voice shouting, and then something heavy fall to the floor. When Sakura opened the door, Sasuke could see three men wrestling on the floor behind her. She smiled and quickly walked out of the house, violently slamming the door shut before her friends could do something. Sasuke offered her his hand, and she took it.

"What in the world was that?" He asked, leading them in the direction of his house. She smiled to herself, knowing that her boys had been trying to end the date, but she could hardly tell him that.

"A few of my friends from Japan came over for my birthday next week. They can be a little over protective, I guess." She chuckled, remembering the date she had been blackmailed into going on with Gaara. That had been ten times worse, Hidan had been so rude that Gaara had nearly gone on a killing spree. She couldn't let that happen again, even if she didn't want to go out with Sasuke.

He led her to his house, but instead of entering, the went to a car parked outside, one which Sakura assumed was his parent's. Sasuke was already sixteen, and had already obtained his driver's license, so he could freely drive them to their date. He opened the door to the passenger seat for her, and once Sakura was situated, he closed it. Having started the car, he slowly backed it out of the driveway. They didn't play any music, as their preferences were vastly different, and there wasn't anything they could both listen to. She instead told him little about Hidan, Sasori and Deidara, and how she expected both Gaara and Temari to join her as well.

He asked questions about what they were like and how they had all met, and Sakura answered them honestly. She explained how they had been friends since before she could even speak, and how Temari had saved her from being picked on as a little girl. She joked about the awful date Temari had begged her to go on with Gaara, and how Gaara had nearly killed everyone in sight because on Hidan.

When the car came to a stop, they were parked outside of a family owned ice cream shop. _Yamanaka Ice Cream_, somehow, she knew she had heard that name before, she just couldn't think of where. Sasuke took her hand and walked her in, and instantly, Sakura knew where she had heard the name. An anorexic looking, skinny girl with long, platinum blonde hair was bustling about, getting people their orders.

Yamanaka Ino had been the one to complain about Sakura sitting next to her on her first day. After that, Ino had simply ignored Sakura, and it stayed like that. All Sakura knew about her was that she had an unhealthy obsession with Sasuke, based on her conversations with her friend Hinata. Apparently, Sasuke was oblivious of her infatuation.

The duo sat down at the ice cream bar, and once again, there was a familiar face from school. This time it was Ino's friend, Hyuga Hinata. She was quiet and shy in class, so Sakura didn't know much about her, compared to what she knew about Ino.

"Konbanwa, Uchiha-san, Haruno-san." The girls said softly in her polite Japanese, bowing to her customers. Sakura grinned; apparently the Hinata girl knew Japanese. Maybe she was a foreign exchange student, or something to that effect.

"I didn't know anyone else spoke Japanese." She giggled happily, hoping that she might have just found a friend who was a girl. The girl blushed slightly, so Sakura supposed she was a bashful person.

"Yes, me and my family came to live here a few years ago. I was born in Japan." Hinata smiled warmly, getting out a pad of paper to take their orders. She continued in asking, "What would you like to order tonight?"

Sakura glanced at the menu, but she already knew what she wanted. Sasuke did the same, until finding something that appealed to him.

"I'll take a cheeseburger and a strawberry milkshake." Sakura smiled, putting down the menu. Hinata smiled back and jotted down her order.

"I would like a grilled cheese sandwich, with tomatoes. Extra tomatoes. I'll drink a coke." Sasuke murmured, and after watching Hinata write down his order, he turned to Sakura, who was fiddling with her thumbs.

"What exactly happened at your place today? When Itachi returned home he could hardly speak, and went straight up to his room." Sasuke questioned her to break the silence, and quench his curiosity. Had it really been that bad, she wondered to herself. Then again, didn't Itachi normally spend all of his time cooped up in his room anyway? She couldn't tell him the truth though, even if she was a terrible liar.

"Well, I guess my friends sort of freaked Itachi out. They can be strange to some people." She lied, and he seemed to believe her. In fact, he looked even more curious than he had been before he had asked his question.

"Freaked out Itachi of all people? How did they do that?" He asked, looking like he might have found a way to scare his older brother for once, instead of the other way around. Of course Itachi never really had been freaked out by her friends, it was more by seeing her so revealed.

"Well, two of them are really gay, and they get kicks out showing it off." Sakura laughed, hoping he would buy her act. Sasuke was slightly disappointed, he couldn't get back at his brother by pretending to be gay, so he couldn't use this new information against Itachi. Still, it was amusing to think Itachi homophobic.

Hinata handed them their drinks, and when the time came, their meals. Though Sakura had been determined to be miserable, she couldn't help but to enjoy his company. The only problem was, she saw them as being friends, while he wanted them to be more than that. It wasn't possible for her though, not with the feelings she had for Itachi. If only there was a way to tell him that without crushing him.

When Sakura had excused herself to go to the restroom, she hadn't been too shocked that Ino followed her in. Ino had been watching them enviously the whole evening, which was very hard for Sakura to ignore. She had been reapplying some lip gloss given to her by Deidara when Ino came in. For a second, the blonde girl just stared at her in disgust.

"So, what makes you think you're worthy of dating Sasuke-kun?" She finally sneered. Sakura could care less what Ino thought of her dating Sasuke, but as a means of protecting her own pride, she responded anyway. She couldn't stand the stupid, smutty kind of girls who thought that just they were a fan of someone, that they had a say in other peoples' personal lives.

"I don't see how it's any of your business that Sasuke asked me out."

With that, Sakura left the restroom, a fuming Ino behind her. She left with Sasuke, after having shared an ice cream sundae, to return home. The drive home had been more quiet. There wasn't much either of them could say to each other. Sakura felt relief wash over her as her house came into view. Sasuke had offered to take her to the movie theaters, but she knew what that meant. Going to the movies on a date was just an excuse to make-out for two hours.

Sasuke opened the passenger door for her, and then walked Sakura up to the front door. While this had been the part that Sakura had been dreading the most, Sasuke had been looking forward to it more than anything. They stood there for a few seconds, and when she did nothing, Sasuke leaned down to kiss her. Sakura let nothing of the sort happen though, she quickly stopped him with a finger to his lips. He looked surprised by her rejection, and impatiently waited for her to explain herself.

"Not now, Sasuke." She managed to whisper. Not ever, she wanted to add. He nodded his head, and when she pulled her hand back, he kissed her cheek instead. She blushed, and without saying goodbye, escaped to the safety of her house.

**A/N: This chapter was sort of hard to write, and I'm not so sure that I like it... But oh well! Please give me a review, they're very inspiring!**

**~Itaweasel-hime :D**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Thank you everyone who has been reading by story so far! You guys are great! :D (more reviews would be nice though. *sob*)**

Sasuke was not a patient person. Sakura should have been rightfully his, but all Sunday she ignored his calls, no doubt in favor for the company of her friends. It was Monday now, and there was no way Sasuke was going to let her go the her class early to hang out with Itachi. He normally didn't come to school before the first bell, but today was going to be _the_ day.

When Sakura had rejected his kiss, after their date, the only thing she had said was _'Not now, Sasuke.' _ He assumed that she meant he would get to kiss her later. Later would have meant Sunday, but as she never answered her phone, later had been moved to Monday. He was tired of waiting, and Sakura wasn't going to stop him this time around.

She was at her locker when he found her, and she seemed to be in her own little world. He stood for a minute or two, just watching her slender form as she reached into her locker to put stuff in her bag. Sasuke didn't care that there was crowds of people passing by or getting into their own lockers. His temptation to feel her silky lips against his own was too great to pass up.

His mind reeling, Sasuke decided to procrastinate no further, and silently walked up to her. For a few seconds, he just stood behind her, waiting for Sakura to acknowledge his presence. She never did, so Sasuke guessed she didn't realize he was there. There was an easy fix for that, he thought to himself.

After he placed a careful hand on her hip, she instinctively froze. Sasuke took advantage of this by turing her around so they were facing each other. Wide-eyed, she stared up at him, looking rather shocked by his actions. Sakura had never anticipated him to take such bold actions in a public place. Sasuke pressed his lips down on hers, both of his arms hanging around her waist.

Sasuke breathed in Sakura's flowery scented perfume, her strawberry shampoo, and savored her sweet tasting lips, yet he longed for more. She felt terrified by her position, here she was being kissed by the wrong person. What had happened to what she had told Sasuke on Saturday? Sakura couldn't move at all, her limbs having been disconnected by her shock. Sakura felt utterly disgusted.

Then she felt it, Sasuke's tongue begging for entrance. She gasped in angry surprise, which Sasuke quickly took advantage of, much to Sakura's displeasure. The next thing she could feel was his slick tongue sliding against hers, trying to reach past it and into her throat. He tasted everything in reach, reveling in her tantalizing breath. It wasn't right, she thought, it tasted all wrong to her. Kisses were supposed to be sweet, but the taste he left in her mouth was bitter and unpleasant.

Itachi waited for Sakura to come, but she must have been held up somewhere. He wanted to talk to her about something, but she didn't seem to be coming early like she always did. He decided that he should check for her at her locker first, as that was where she normally went first thing in the morning.

What Itachi saw when he turned the corner was nothing close to what he had been expecting. Like every other day, Sakura was standing at her locker, but today Sasuke was there with her, throughly eating her face. It seemed that the date had gone well after all, if this was the results. Itachi couldn't remember ever having felt more rejected, more broken. He could see it then, her coming over to his house and then going up to Sasuke's boring bedroom to do things he didn't even want to think about. His mother would just love it too, _'her little baby Sasuke, all grown up.' _

Unable to stomach watching them any longer, Itachi quickly turned around to return back to class. If he was a person capable of such things, Itachi would have cried. Right now though, he wanted to throw up, and then go home. Maybe if he was safe beneath the cover of his blankets, he might have let himself cry. In fact, maybe he needed a good cry. It might do good to clear his stupid head, so he could remember who he was.

He was Uchiha Itachi, he didn't like people, and he didn't want anything to have to do with them. The sooner he graduated the better, because then he could leave home to go finish his eduction somewhere far away. He wouldn't have to ever see Sakura again, and if luck was with him, he wouldn't have to see Sasuke either.

_Whap! _Sakura slapped Sasuke on the cheek after he released her, leaving a red mark in the shape of her hand where she had hit him. Itachi hadn't stayed long enough to see Sakura hit him, nor to see her angry and hurt expression. She couldn't believe that Sasuke had the nerve to simply waltz up and kiss her. It was too much to bear, she had been reserving her lips for Itachi, even if he never claimed them. Now they had been stolen, in front of the majority of the school, and by none other than Sasuke.

Sasuke's mind took a while to comprehend that he had just been slapped. It didn't make sense to him; almost every other girl in the school would die for him to kiss them. He reached his hand up to his throbbing cheek, just to be sure it had been real. Sure enough, his skin stung at being touched. She could hit hard, he realized. Sasuke glared down at her, waiting for Sakura to explain herself.

"If I had wanted you to kiss me, I would have told you to. I was saving that for someone else, Sasuke! You're a great guy, and I had a good time on Saturday, but I don't want to be anything more than friends." She told him, her voice cracking slightly. Sasuke couldn't understand her reasoning. Who in the world could she be saving her kisses for, if he couldn't have them? The first person to come to mind was his older brother. He was about to approach this matter when she interrupted him.

"And if you so much as try to kiss me again, I will do nothing short of killing you."

Sasuke wouldn't have believed her, but when he looked into her eyes, he knew she was dead serious. It wouldn't be just her either, her three friends from Japan would back her up, as if she need assistance. For all he knew, they were all a bunch of black belts too. It would really be the death of him.

Her threat was fully meant, but that didn't mean he liked the fact that she wanted to be with Itachi, and not him. It was stupid of her to even hope Itachi would like her, Sasuke was positive that Itachi lacked hormones. Why go for second best when she could have him? He was one of the biggest heart throbs of the school.

The first bell rang, signaling for the students to head for their classes. Sakura slammed her locker shut angrily, and walked off in huff. She ignored the tares she got from the students, her only thoughts surrounding Itachi. She had to make sure he never caught wind of the kiss, even if it was an unrealistic ambition. Everything would be ruined if he did hear about it. Then again, she was pretty sure that she was the only one who talked to Itachi on a regular basis.

When she got to class, Itachi was already brooding in his seat in the back, as always. Sighing inwardly, she made her way to her own desk, sending him a brief smile before sitting down. He didn't return her smile, or even acknowledge that she had given him one. He must have been in a bad mood, she told herself.

Itachi wasn't sure what Sakura was trying to pull by smiling at him. He did what hurt the most, and ignored her kind gesture, even denied it. For all he knew, she thought it was exciting to have two brothers chasing after her. She already had one of them, now all she needed was the other brother. He wasn't going to give in to her childish games, it would only hurt him in the end if he gave her what she wanted. Itachi would give her no such pleasure.

Kakashi could sense it as soon as he had entered the room; the tension grinding between Uchiha Itachi and Haruno Sakura was even more overbearing than before. They seemed to change every time they entered his classroom, he thought. One day they hated each other, the next they were best of friends, and now they had gone back to hating each other. He might just have to rearrange the seating chart if they didn't get their acts together some time soon. Then again, that would take too much of his precious _Icha Icha_ reading time. Whatever the case, it needed to end soon, their ever-changing attitudes towards each other was starting to grate on his nerves. Luckily for Kakashi, and anyone else who noticed the tension between them, the class lasted only fifty minutes, and the bell soon rang to release them.

Sakura had thought that Itachi was just in a bad mood, but when he left for English without waiting for her, she knew something terribly wrong had happened. There had to be, otherwise he would never have left her behind, no matter how bad his mood was. She thought of all the things that could put him in such a foul mood, and one thing came to mind.

She hadn't heard anyone talking about the kiss in class, so Itachi couldn't have found out that way. There was only one other alternative, he must have actually witnessed it himself. She wasn't sure if this was true, but the very thought made her stomach churn. Sakura looked at Itachi's figure up ahead in the distance, and her stomach flopped when she pictured what he must have seen. a flash back of Sasuke's tongue in her mouth sent her stomach spiraling one too many times.

Sakura clamped her mouth shut with her hand and ran desperately down the hall for the nearest restroom. The contents of her stomach crept up her throat, and the awful taste was making her gag. Tears streamed down her face as she rushed for the closest open stall. Not having time to lock the door behind her, Sakura vomited into the toilet. She sobbed, hugging the porcelain bowl for support. After merely looking into the toilet, her stomach lurched again, and she emptied further.

Sakura had only enough strength to flush the toilet, and then cry. Cry because of how awful she felt, cry because Sasuke had kissed her, and cry because of Itachi. She curled up on the floor next to the toilet, waiting for the nausea to subside. Her class with Orochimaru-sensei was the last thing on her mind.

Itachi was clicking his pen impatiently and playing with his lip ring. Sakura had never even bothered to show up for class. He supposed that it was time for make-out session number two. _Who cares about class? Hell, if he was lucky, maybe he'd be an Uncle by the end of the day._ He just wanted English to be over, for the day to be over, for the school year to be over, for his life to be over.

Orochimaru-sensei couldn't stand it when a student ditched his class. Haruno Sakura had been present for her first period, it said so on the school roster. Yet, she wasn't in class, and the bell had rang five minutes ago. He could care less if she didn't attend her other classes, but she was playing with fire when she decided to skip his. If she was still on campus, then she was going to be dragged to class, by force if necessary.

"I need a volunteer." Orochimaru-sensei told his class tiredly. Several hands shot up, the first of which being Inuzuka Hana's. He didn't like the overly-helpful girl, so he automatically ignored her. He was prone to think that Uchiha Itachi knew where Sakura was, and he like to rile up the unenthusiastic youth when he got the chance to. So, he chose Itachi for his task.

"Uchiha. Go find Sakura and bring her to class. Take the hall pass with you." He ordered. Itachi couldn't believe how rotten his luck was. He was sorely tempted to walk off campus and not return for the rest of the day. Or maybe hang himself.

Grudgingly, he got out of his seat and picked up the pass before leaving the class. Itachi wasn't sure where they had their love nest hidden, so he decided to retrace his steps back to US History first. The halls were empty, as everyone was already in class. On his way, he heard a familiar voice in the girl's restroom, and it sounded like it was crying.

Then he heard coughing, as she retched into the toilet again. Sneakily, Itachi opened the door, and sure enough, from under the stalls he could see Sakura's all-stars. His hatred for her was quickly replaced by concern. After she flushed the toilet, he walked into the bathroom. The stall was unlocked, so he opened it to peer down at Sakura, who was sobbing and holding the porcelain pot for support. She looked miserable.

"Sakura." He called quietly, kneeling down next to her. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with horror and what he considered to be fear. Though he wasn't sure what she had to fear, unless it was because he was in the girl's bathroom.

"You saw, didn't you." She whispered hoarsely, her throat course from being sick. Itachi knew she was talking about the kiss, and he wondered if that was the cause of her throwing up, however illogical it might have been. He nodded his head, and her eyes filled with remorse. A new set of tears began to dribble down her pail and drawn face. Itachi soothed her hair down, trying to calm her.

"It wasn't his to take, Itachi. It wasn't his to take." She muttered. He didn't understand her mumblings, was she still talking about the stupid kiss? If she was, then had she not wanted Sasuke to kiss her? And if it wasn't Sasuke's to take, then who's was it? There were so many questions he wanted to ask her, but that would have to come later. In the mean time, Itachi needed to get her home.

"I'm going to take you to the nurse's office." He soothed. She nodded her head, and weakly tried to stand up. When she failed to stay on her feet, Itachi caught her and picked her up. He threw her bag over his shoulder, and like a new bride, he carried her to Shizune-sensei.

Itachi was slightly amused by Shizune-sensei's surprised expression when he waltzed into the nurse's office, Sakura in his arms. He had to admit, the sight was highly unusual, considering his reputation for not really caring about anyone or anything.

"She wasn't feeling well." He stated blandly, placing her down on a bed. Shizune nodded her head and got down to work. First of all, she placed a hand on her forehead, and already she could tell Sakura was running a temperature.

"How are you feeling, honey?" She asked her patient. Sakura looked at the woman as if to say, 'how the hell do you think I feel? I just threw up!' The nurse needed no further answer, she understood completely.

"Well, it's probably just the stomach flu. Do you have someone who can pick you up?" Shizune asked her patient. Sakura looked down, trying to hide her anguish. There was no one who could just come and get her. Her mother was working, and her boys didn't have a car to drive. She was stranded, and from the face she was failing to hide, Itachi knew as much.

"I can get her home." Itachi said quietly. Sakura couldn't remember ever having felt more thankful towards someone. Here he was, betrayed by her because of that stupid kiss, and yet he was more than willing to drive her home in the middle of class. Perhaps Deidara had been right, and he did have feelings for her. Either that, or he had a bigger heart than he led on. If it weren't for the fact that she had the flu. Sakura could have kissed him, then and there.

"If she has no other choice, then I'll give you a permit to leave campus." Shizune-sensei sighed in defeat. She didn't like the idea of Itachi having to miss class as well, but he was academically, a good student, capable of getting top grades. She was going to have to trust that he would speedily return to school, and not skip out on the rest of the day.

Itachi was exceedingly happy; if he was guessing correctly, Sakura hadn't wanted to be kissed by Sasuke, that it had been forced. He was going to have to strangle Sasuke later, but that was besides the point. Sakura was open, and he might actually have a chance. Itachi could feel the beginnings of a smile pull at his lips.

He took the permit from Shizune-sensei and picked Sakura back up. She was light, more like a child in his arms than the teenager she was. Itachi carried her through the school and to his car, ignoring the rare straggler wandering the halls. Let them think what they will, he decided; he didn't care what they thought of him. It wasn't as if he had ever cared much in the first place.

Gently, Itachi sat Sakura down in the passenger seat of his Audi. She curled up into a ball by wrapping her arms around her legs as he walked around to the driver's seat. Smirking to himself, he plugged her in before starting the engine. She grunted in response to the first movements of the car, but thankfully for Itachi's leather interior, she didn't have anything left in her stomach. He quickly turned down _All That Remains_ before steadily driving down the street.

"If you feel like you're going to be sick, just let me know and I'll pull over." He said calmly, taking a moment to look at her. She sighed in response, and looked like she was going to fall asleep. Without thinking, he took a hand from the steering wheel to move the loose strands of pink hair that was blocking her face. Sakura smiled to herself weakly.

When Itachi had pulled up into Sakura's driveway, he had almost lost all of his confidence. Had he really expected himself to be able to just walk up to the door with a sick Sakura in his arms? The three boys inside loved the girl like a sister, and they would quickly jump to conclusions. He had gotten himself into this though, so he had to complete the task at hand. What a coward he was, he grounded inwardly, opening his car door.

He walked around his Audi and slowly pick Sakura up, then re-shouldered her bag. Using his foot, he shut the car door. It was difficult to do, but Itachi managed to ring the doorbell using an elbow. As soon as he heard the click of the gears to the doorknob, he knew they would expect and explanation. He knew most of what was going on, but he wasn't sure he had a right to tell her friends what had happened at school that day. He was sure she wouldn't him to tell them how Sasuke had forcibly kissed her before first period. It wasn't his place to say such things.

"What the fuck is going on?" The white haired one asked. If Itachi remembered correctly, his name was Hidan. He was probably the worst out of the three to have answered the door. from his experience with Hidan in Sakura's bedroom and at Hot Topic, he was the most obnoxious and perverse of the three. Oh, hell.

"If you would let me put her to bed, than I would gladly explain." Itachi sighed. Hidan just stared at him for a few seconds, before he reached the most far-fetched conclusion his mind could possibly think of.

"Don't tell me, you did _it_, didn't you?" Itachi paled considerably.

"No, it's nothing like-"

"Sasori, Deidara! This bastard over here fuckin' took our Saku-chan's virginity!" He yelled, cutting off Itachi's protests. Well, so much for living. Too bad he had never gotten to kill Sasuke. How unfortunate.

An unwavering glare stuck on his face, Itachi was too irritated with Hidan's idiocy to blush. He heard Sasori and Deidara practically leaping for the door; preparing to kill whoever he ended up being. He wasn't going to give them the chance, so he boldly pushed past Hidan and nimbly dodged Sasori and Deidara. Thank god Sakura had been asleep, and had missed that scene. Her being his first priority, he pressed onward up the stares and to her room.

Slowly, Itachi slipped her under the bedding, where she lay, still sound asleep. Not realizing that the trio was watching him from the doorway, he swiped her hair from her face once more, then softly kissed her broad forehead. It had been so light that she never stirred, and therefor, she would never know. Itachi set down her backpack next to her bed and turned around to leave.

Much to his horror, Hidan, Sasori, and Deidara were standing there, staring at him with wide-eyes and mouths agape. Well, she wouldn't know, but her three 'brothers' sure as hell did. That was most likely worse than her knowing.

Wordlessly, he walked past them and back downstairs. If they wanted to talk about it, then fine. But they weren't going to talk about it in her room, while she was sleeping. The three of them seemed to at least understand his logic in this matter. He doubted they would understand anything else that was going on. Tiredly, he slumped himself onto one of the flowery couches. The trio all sat on one together, and for a while, the four of them simply stared at each other in silence.

"It's obvious that Itachi didn't do as Hidan so rashly exclaimed." Sasori finally broke the silence, though never losing eye contact with Itachi.

"Of course not." Itachi replied, continuing to glare at Sasori. He never backed down from a staring contest, and he certainly never lost in one.

"Oh, I'm so excited, un! Saku-chan is just-" Deidara started, only to be quickly shut down.

"You will not be setting them up, Deidara." Sasori said in his scary calmness. Itachi was utterly bewildered by this comment. Why in the world would they want to help hook him up with Sakura? It didn't make sense.

"So I was fuckin' wrong?" It finally dawned on Hidan. As if dealing with a child, Sasori and Deidara slowly nodded their heads in affirmation.

"But seriously, Itachi. You like her, right?" Deidara questioned. Hesitantly, he nodded his head, afraid his voice might betray him. He wasn't used to admitting his feelings, or even having any feelings. It left him somewhat confused.

"Then what are you waiting for? You should just ask Saku-chan out already, right Sasori-danna?" Deidara turned to his boyfriend for support. Sasori said nothing to answer him, as usual.

"Why do you even care if I'm her boyfriend? Shouldn't you three be trying to prevent it from happening?" Itachi asked dubiously.

"Because, Saku-chan would-"

"Stop Deidara, or I'll stop you myself." Sasori warned, a glint in his eyes that was wholly unfamiliar to Itachi. Deidara's eyes narrowed, a mischievous smile crossed his face.

"Is that a threat or a promise?"

"Both."

"Okay, enough of that shit! I still don't like this, pretty-boy over here is too old for her. She should go with that Sasuke person." Hidan complained. Itachi couldn't believe someone would choose Sasuke over him, but then again, Sasuke was the 'good boy.' In his opinion, 'good boys' didn't force themselves upon girls.

"My brother is hardly an appropriate choice for Sakura. And for your information, I'm only two years older than Sakura, that isn't much of an age difference." Itachi stated cooly, crossing his arms over his chest in a menacing manner. Deidara flinched at the change of atmosphere caused by Itachi, and Hidan sunk deeply into the couch. Only Sasori was totally unaffected. It was clear Hidan had hit a raw nerve by saying Sakura should be with Sasuke.

"What would you be willing to do for her? Would you give Sakura up if it was best for her?" Sasori murmured. It hurt for him to think about it, but Itachi knew he would. He would even give her up to Sasuke if that was she wanted. It would kill him in the process, but he would. Itachi was, in general, a rather selfish person, but she was more important to him than his own desires, she always would be.

"If it was what she wanted, I would."

It had been the right thing to say, it seemed, because Sasori nodded his head approvingly. Was he giving him permission to chase after, Itachi wondered. Deidara smiled and leaned his head on Sasori's shoulder. Maybe this person was the right one to heal their Saku-chan, to touch her well-protected heart. She would never admit it out loud, but she still wasn't over her father's death.

"Well, _I_ still don't like it. That Sasuke person is her age, so he would be better." Hidan grumbled under his breath. Itachi was tempted to tell them what had happened at school, maybe then Hidan wouldn't be so supportive of Sasuke. In fact, he might want to kill Sasuke as much as Itachi did. It still wasn't something he was at liberty to say though, and he wasn't sure that Sakura wanted them to know about it at all.

"Well, this had been interesting, but I need to get back to school. Tell Sakura when she wakes up that I'll get her the homework load later." Itachi sighed, getting to his feet. In truth, he was so emotionally spent that he wanted nothing more than to go home and curl up in bed. The irresponsible part of him yelled in agreement, urging him to do just that. Sakura would want the homework later though, so just for that, he would go back to school.

When he had made his way back, it was already halfway through fourth period. Asuma-sensei read the note he got from the office and said nothing. Sasuke had this nagging feeling when he saw Itachi come to class late, and it bothered him that Sakura had never even showed up. Then there was the deathly glare Itachi sent him before sitting in his assigned spot. It promised hell.

Itachi returned to Orochimaru-sensei's class and then visited Kurenai-sensei's class to get the homework assignments during lunch. The remainder of the day was tediously long, and without his bright, cheerful Sakura there to keep him company, lonely as well. He wondered if she had woken up yet, and if her three brothers had told her anything about his liking her. He reverently hoped not; if she ever found out the truth, it would be from him, not one of her gossiping friends.

He had the impression that Sasori might prevent the gossiping blonde from telling her, not for Itachi's benefit, but for Sakura's. She deserved to hear his confession from the source, not some second party who took joy in interfering.

After the final bell rang, releasing the students, Itachi made a quick search for his troublesome, foolish younger brother. Sasuke needed to be reminded who exactly he was dealing with, and told what to do to fix the mess he had vacuously created. It didn't take him long to find Sasuke, who had been sitting on the steps outside the front of the school, talking with Naruto. Both had been so stunned by his approach that he needn't tell them to silence themselves so he could speak.

"You seem to forget whom you are dealing with, Oroka na ototo." Itachi began, staring down at the two younger teenagers. He smiled sadistically when he saw the immediate fear in both of their eyes. Naruto couldn't understand what Itachi had just said, but just the tone of his voice had frightened him. It had been calm, cool and collected, as it always was, but there was clear murderous intent dripping from the words he spoke.

"You will apologize to Sakura the next time you see her, or I will make your life a true hell on earth. If you so much as _think_ about kissing her again, I will not hesitate to kill you in the most slow, painful and degrading way I can. You will not talk to her again, unless she has forgiven you, and has told you as much." He threatened darkly, his eyes shining with tangible blood lust. Sasuke knew he was in a dangerous position, but he still didn't see how Itachi had any right, or reason for that matter, to interfere. It angered him that Itachi so rudely butted into his personal business.

"Why do you even care?" Sasuke asked bluntly, his fear clouded by fury. Itachi merely stared down at him in distain for a moment before answering.

"She was not yours to touch; she has already been claimed. I will not let you make her cry like she did ever again, oroka na ototo." Itachi stated blandly. The boy looked up at him at a loss, not able to comprehend what he meant in saying,_ 'she has already been claimed.'_

"Claimed? By who?"

"I have claimed her. You will not interfere; she is mine to touch, and no one else's." He answered possessively. Sasuke had never seen Itachi so protective of something, so stubbornly greedy. The matter was now beyond his reach, above him in the same manner Itachi stood. He had lost to his older brother, for what felt like the millionth time. Itachi always got his way, and there was no obstacle he could not overcome.

"If you do not comply in begging for her forgiveness, I will know, oroka na ototo. You have been warned." Itachi finished, turning around and then stalking off again. Sasuke watched his retreating back in terror, feeling his world fall in shambles. It was over.

Itachi felt satisfied, no, proud, at having boasting his feelings for Sakura. It had been so enthralling to see Sasuke's confused and dejected face, and he felt a new sense of confidence. He was going to make her his. Nobody would be able to touch his precious blossom, or even look in her direction when she was his. He would be selfish, never leaving her side, completely consuming her, while she would do the same thing. She would long for him, and they would constantly haunt each other's every thought. Nobody would be able to break them apart, once he had made her absolutely obsessed with him. Sakura was _his. Sakura... _

She lay in bed, waiting for her brothers to bring her udon upstairs. They had restricted her to the bed, refusing to let her to prepare her own meal. After having woken up, she had been famished. They asked her what had happened, why she had come home early. It was hard for her to do, but she told them about the dreadful kiss, and about throwing up, and about Itachi. _Itachi... _

He was coming over, they told her. He had said so himself. She felt so dirty, like she had betrayed him in the most lowly of ways, even though it hadn't been her fault. She was scared to see him, afraid that now she was safely home, he would return to being the cold, neglecting person he had flaunted earlier. Her heart wouldn't be able to handle something so harsh, she knew it would break into a million pieces if he did that to her.

There was a knock on her door, which was unusual for her boys, they always just barged in. She pushed the thought aside though, and told whoever it was to come in. She hadn't been expecting it to be Itachi, with her udon and tea. Her fear of him seeing her melted away, and she felt her heart throb in happiness. He didn't look angry, and she should have known all along that he could never hurt her.

There were deep shadows under her eyes, and her skin was still a bit paler than usual, but Itachi thought she looked loads better than when he had found her in the bathroom. Her beautiful green eyes were bright and enthusiastic, just like they should be whenever she saw him. He felt warmth flow through him, and not being familiar with the emotion, could only guess that it was love. _Sakura... _

She felt an unexpected feeling when she saw him, and knew two things almost immediately. One, she loved him irrevocably; two, he loved her just as much as she loved him. _Itachi... _

"Are you feeling any better?" He asked in a soft, silky baritone. She felt her heart jump into her throat excitedly with the sound of his voice.

"Yes, I feel a lot better." She breathed, watching intently as he pulled the chair from her desk next to her bed. He sat down, and looked at her through thick, black eyelashes. Even if she was sick, she still managed to find a way to look utterly breathtaking. There was a tightness in his chest, pulsating every time she blinked, every time she breathed. It was anxious, and longing, and desperate to obtain one thing, her. _Sakura..._

_Itachi... _

_Sakura..._

_Itachi... _

_Sakura._

They both knew it, there was no going back now. It didn't need to be said aloud, they both knew it. They belonged to each other. There was no replacement, no alternative, not even a thought about one. He felt his chest grow even tighter, his eyes never leaving hers. Sakura felt a knife jab itself into her heart, it was a beautiful, loving pain. It twisted, but she savored the feeling of having him in her presence. How she loved him. How he loved her.

_Itachi._

"Thank you, Itachi." She took the meal when he offered it to her. She smiled in her intoxicating, unbearable pain, enjoying the sharp twists of the knife.

"You're welcome." He said, his chest even more tightly knotted. Such wonderful, agonizing pain, how he loved her. Such masochistic, unbelievable love.

**A/N: OMG! The sparks are flying!!! Don't worry, Itachi will get to kiss Sakura soon too... REVIEW, DATTEBAYO!!!! :D**


	8. Chapter 8

Sasori was genuinely concerned. Sakura's room upstairs was quiet, and Itachi had been up there for an hour at least. He had seen the predator-like look in his eyes when he arrived, and that alone was enough to make him worry. He knew that look all too much from experience. Itachi was hungry, and for none other than his little Saku-chan. As happy as Sakura would be about this, Sasori didn't like it. She was just a girl, while he was practically a man.

The silence continued, and unable to handle the stress any longer, Sasori marched up the stairs to the bedroom, and leaned into the door, listening for the slightest of sounds that would give away what was happening inside. For a while, there was nothing. He had been about to get Deidara when he first heard them.

"No, Sakura, you're doing it wrong." He heard Itachi murmur. What in the world were they doing in there? What was she doing wrong, Sasori wanted to shout. He was her 'older brother,' he was supposed to protect her from such things. Whatever they were doing in there, he was positive it was indecent.

"Fine then, why don't you show me how to do it correctly?" Sakura muttered back. What the hell was he teaching her to do? Saku-chan was his innocent, cute, little sister, and Sasori wasn't ready for her to grow up yet. He needed to stop it, before she had seen too much.

"Okay, you take this over here, and then-"

Sasori opened the door, perplexed when he found they weren't doing anything naughty after all. She was sitting up in bed, a textbook in her lap, while he sat next to her in a chair. He had been helping her with her _math homework_. He had such a dirty mind if he was turned tutoring into a crazy sex scene, and only because the door happened to be closed. Sasori sighed; kids these days. Or maybe he just had the tendency to overreact when it came to Sakura.

"Are you finished with your udon, Saku-chan?" He asked cooly, quickly covering his foolish blunder. She smiled, said she was, and turned back to Itachi and her math homework. Sasori took her bowl and quickly left the teenagers to their _homework_. What kind of nerds did math homework when parents weren't home? Sakura always did have a thing for the smart-asses.

The door shut as Sasori left the room, and Sasori could hear their laughter all the way down the stairs. Itachi had a hard time silencing himself, even if he wasn't one to laugh. Both of them had seen Sasori's accusing look when he barged in, and it was easy to guess what he had been thinking. He had assumed that, since the door was shut and it was quiet, they had been doing something highly inappropriate. The idea of them doing _it _then and there was amusing, and completely preposterous.

Sakura had hardly put the pieces together to find out she loved Itachi, and that he returned her feelings. They had never even kissed before, and people were already jumping to conclusions. If she was honest with herself, Sakura knew she wasn't ready to kiss him. She was afraid kissing him would be hist as horrid as it had been with Sasuke. The thought was ridiculous, but it was a safe assumption in her perspective. They were both males, they both felt the same for her, and they both wanted the same thing from her. Her heart, to hold it in their possessive hands. For Sakura to love them back.

Sakura did love them both back, but not in the way that everyone could appreciate. Sasuke was another brother to her, like Sasori, Deidara and Hidan, and he wanted a different part of her. The part that Itachi already rightfully had in his caring hold. This was agreeable to Itachi; he got what he wanted from her, her love. The love that he so desperately needed from another person. A love he could return with everything that he was.

Her mind was elsewhere, and Itachi quickly deduced this. It was apparent they weren't going to get any further with her lesson in this particular session. If she was unable to make it to school tomorrow, or even if she did, he would continue where he left off. Itachi loved her distracted expression, how her green eyes would unfocused slightly, how her haw slackened, how she breathed slowly, utterly at peace. It was cute, and worth being unintentionally ignored.

"Hello in there..." He called teasingly, using the same tone of a child curiously looking down into a well. Much to Itachi's amusement, she snapped back from her own world instantaneously, blinking rapidly and feeling rather embarrassed at having been caught day dreaming.

"What were you thinking about?" He questioned, poking her forehead. "It looked rather important."

Irritated at having been poked, she rubbed the skin of her forehead. It didn't hurt at all, but it felt strange. Normally, she would be the one to make any form of contact, he never made the distance.

"You." She muttered unthinkingly, only to realize her mistake when it was too late. Sakura covered her mouth, surprised even more than he was by what she had just said. She felt the cruel blush creep into her cheeks, burning in embarrassment and giving her away for what she was. A love-sick fool.

"You are a strange little girl." Itachi sighed, shaking his head in a feigned disapproval. It was true, Sakura was one of the most unusual girls he had ever met, but that was half of the reason he liked her so much. She was different, special.

"I know. You don't have to point that out for me." Sakura grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly. It was so adorable when she was being stubborn. Itachi wondered if she knew as much, of if she was naturally cute.

"There's no need to be touchy. I never said I had a problem with your strangeness." He stated, stretching in the chair he sat in. She snorted in response, and leaned back into her wall of pillows. Knowing that her attention span was shortened from being stuck in bed, Sakura shut her textbook and moved it off to the side. She was smart enough to figure everything out on her own, despite whatever Itachi might think.

Both of them were content in their semi-silence (Three Days Grace was blaring in the background), and they were throughly pleased that there was no need for useless chatter. Sometimes the quiet was good, well as quiet as it ever could be when listening to _Animal I Have Become_. It was funny how paralleled their tastes in music were.

"I've got to be going." Itachi finally sighed ruefully. It was clear that he didn't want to leave yet, but he had other responsibilities than spending his time with her. She didn't want him to go either, but she could understand. He had his own homework to do, after all.

"Don't scare Sasuke too much. It's probably my fault just as much as it was his." Sakura warned. She knew that she had partially led him on. He would have never even attempted to kiss her if she had the backbone to turn him down. She should have been stricter when preventing his first try after their date.

"Too late." Itachi snickered, giving his trademark smirk. She laughed cheerfully, and gave him a playful smack on the arm. Sakura couldn't blame him for telling off Sasuke, part of her believed he deserved it. Itachi had needed it, it seemed. Scaring Sasuke had made him make up his mind. At first he wasn't sure what Sakura felt for him, but as soon as he had walked into her bedroom, he had know. It gave him a small sense of pride that a girl loved him.

He was different, yes, an outcast perhaps, but human at least. He might not have believed so much previously, but Sakura ignited feelings that he had never experienced before. She made him feel alive, and that for once, he belonged somewhere. His parents may not have wanted him, his brother didn't, and half of the school wouldn't have cared if he dropped dead. She did though, and it gave him comfort that he hadn't even known was needed. Itachi didn't want to hide in his room anymore, and he instead wanted to spend his time up in hers. It felt almost as if he had the right to do so.

Itachi stood from his spot on her chair and kissed her cheek, just to see the bright red color flush her face minutely. Smirking smartly to himself, he left the room, her wordless and unable to tell him goodbye. Another surge of pride; he was already leaving her wordless, and he hadn't even kissed her on the lips. Yet.

Itachi refused to make the same mistake that Sasuke had made. He would wait for her to come to him, even if the time it took her to do so exceeded his trained patience. He wanted her to itch for him first, for her whole body to yearn for him before letting himself taste her lips that only promised to be sickeningly sweet.

Sasori and Deidara gave him wary glances as he stepped lightly down the stairs. Itachi suppressed the urge to grin at them, knowing it would bother the two of them. It was understandable for them to be concerned for Sakura, considering what Sasuke had pulled. She hadn't said anything more on the matter, but it was clear in Deidara's anxious expression, and the protective glint in Sasori's eyes that they knew. It made sense that Sakura would tell the three people she was closest to, her 'brothers.' Itachi secretly hoped that one day, he could have the same level of trust with her, if not even more.

It was ironic to him that only a few days before, he had been a lonely recluse, hiding from anyone who tried to touch him. He still didn't feel like randomly breaking into song and dancing in the middle of a street, but there was a subtle change. He was talking to someone, a girl, on a regular basis, which was quite a big deal in itself. He used to go days without speaking a word, until his throat would go dry and hoarse. Itachi took the trouble to search for his foolish brother in school, even if it was to chew him out and give him a necessary warning. Normally, he would avoid Sasuke at all costs, and wait until he got home to do such things. Sakura was changing him, and he still couldn't decide if it was a good thing or not.

It didn't matter if her effects on him were negative or not. He was far too gone, Itachi had, for the first time in his life, fallen. He was perfectly fine with laying where he fell, it was comfortable. Sakura made everything interesting, worth paying attention to. Sasuke could torment him for it all he wanted, Itachi would know he was jealous. Sasuke had lost epically, to his own older brother. Itachi wouldn't want it any other way.

Smiling stupidly, Sakura lifted a hand to touch the cheek that Itachi had so sweetly kissed. This was what Deidara, the person designated to check up on her, found her doing when he opened the door. Sakura giggled childishly, her eyes lighting up with excitement and hope. Itachi really was a caring person, even if he himself didn't realize it. She couldn't wait for her mother to come home so she could tell her.

Sakura could picture what she would say too. _'The emo one, huh? Well, just promise me you two won't have some sort of weird sex where you cut each other and lick each other's blood.' _She would turn beet red, and shout at her mother for even suggesting that they were going to have sex. Then they would have a heated argument about something random, like doing their hair a normal color, which would end in a fit of giggles that would progress into roaring laughter.

_If only..._

If only her father were there. He would look up from his newspaper, or book, or paperwork to give them a knowing smirk. He might have even chuckled a few times, before complaining about the volume. She could visualize it so easily, and that was what hurt.

She was a teenager, she was supposed to be happy and carefree, but she kept on thinking about him. how could she be carefree though? that would mean completely forgetting her father. She loved her off-standish and somewhat aloof father; she could never forget him, leave him behind. That would be like betraying him.

Deidara saw as her face sobered into an expression he could easily recognize. She was thinking about her father again. He could see it in her suddenly vacant eyes, her small pout, her scrunched up nose and forehead. The tears pooled together, and as if she didn't notice their being there, they began to spill. Deidara hated it when she did this to herself, it was just cruel. He knew there wasn't much anyone could do but hold her until it passed. Listen to her broken sobs and hiccuping until she forced all of her emotions into the little box she kept in her mind.

Deidara rushed to the bed just in time for her to grab him in a needy way. Sighing inwardly, he let Sakura pull him down onto the bed and into her grasp. It was how she always was whenever she thought of her father. She would long for companionship, for the feeling of someone near to her. She always ended up grabbing the closest available person, and if nobody was nearby, she would hug a pillow instead.

He tiredly pulled one of his arms free so he could stroke her exotically colored hair. She snuggled into his chest, crying helplessly. He hated to see her like this, and though she thought it was betrayal, Deidara believed it was high time she moved on with her life. Deidara hadn't known her father particularly well, but he knew he wouldn't blame her for moving on. He would want her to be happy more than anything else.

Much to his relief, she calmed herself more quickly than usual. It seemed that she might have gotten, if not a little, better, if she could suppress her emotions so quickly now. If only she could let it go entirely, like her mother already had decided to do. Konan had been ten times worse than Sakura was, it was like she wasn't even living anymore. It was as if she had woken up one day and decided that grieving over the dead wasn't going to bring them back. Now she was relatively happy with her life. Lonely, but happy.

"He kissed my cheek." Sakura finally said, her face completely serene. Deidara looked down at her, thankful for her peaceful expression.

_That_ must have been the reason for Itachi's pompous attitude as he left, Deidara mused. All self-righteous, and he hadn't even done anything yet. They had been all worried over nothing.

"Are you okay with that. un?" He found himself asking. She smiled softly, letting a light blush reach her cheeks.

"Yes, Dei-chan, I think I am." She sighed, sitting up. It was sort of ridiculous, making a big deal out of something as simple as a kiss on the cheek. Yet, it seemed like it _was_ a big deal. For the first few days she had known him, Itachi had been a complete bastard. A bastard who never showed any type of emotion. Now he was, and for her, of all people. It was a step for someone like him, she knew that much.

"As long as he doesn't hurt my Saku-chan, un." Deidara sighed, knowing she would do whatever she the hell she wanted, with or without his approval. If he did break Sakura's heart, he was going to have to answer to him, with Hidan and Sasori right behind him. Though they did have a nice outward appearance (for the most part), they could be downright scary when necessary. And they knew where he lived too...

He ruffled her hair teasingly, ignoring her incoherent grumbles, and then left her to her own devices. He knew from experience that she liked to be alone after thinking about her dad. Sakura could work through it somehow, Deidara just wasn't sure she could do it alone. She never had a ..._Boyfriend _before, but maybe if she felt loved on a different, more intimate level, she could forget, let go of the past.

Sasori was waiting for him when he got down the stairs, an almost non-exsistant look of worry clear on his face. Anyone would be concerned after hearing Sakura cry. It was even more painful to watch, to comfort her when she was writhing in emotional agony.

"We should do something big for her birthday." Sasori murmured, taking a second to glance up the stairwell. Both Deidara and Hidan agreed, but it seemed that nobody had a plan worth mentioning.

Instantly, Hidan's face lit up in excitement. It was like the dead light bulb in his head had finally been replaced, and he was using a new one in the first time in years. He had an idea, and it was most definitely worth putting into action.

This wasn't happening. This most definitely wasn't happening, Sakura told herself. There were flyers everywhere, it seemed like every student in the school had one, and the surplus was sticking to the walls and lockers. And they all said the same thing, on the same pink-colored paper:

_You have been invited to _

_Sakura's Sweet 16, un!_

_Come, bring your friends and _

_favorite CD's, un!_

_Will be hosted on Friday, _

_by none other than Itachi!_

_(Don't worry, he won't be in control of the _

_music the whole time...)_

_For dress code and to RSVP, call_

_946-449-7324_

She wasn't sure who was responsible, but she was going to kill whoever it was.

Then she saw him from across the hallway. Itachi was staring down at a flyer in his hands, fuming dangerously. Stomping up to him, Sakura snatched a flyer from a random student. She was pissed, and he was the first person she had to blame. His name was on the damned thing, after all.

"What the hell is this?" Sakura roared, shoving the pink paper into his face. He pulled the menace from obstructing his view, taking the odious thing and crumpling it into a ball, then throwing it behind him.

"I had nothing to do with this mess. If you look closely, it says 'un' on it, doesn't it? I would never write something like that, it would be improper English." Itachi growled back. Sakura took a closer look at the flyer he had gotten, and realized he was right. The only person she knew who said 'un' was Deidara... Oh hell. She was going to murd-

"Uchiha Itachi and Haruno Sakura, report to the dean's office immediately!" A loud voice shouted into the intercom. They were dead. She was going to kill them for this, they had gone too far this time.

"Damn them... I bet they knew this would happen too." She muttered under her breath. Itachi stood utterly motionless. He had _never_ been called to the dean's office before. He had secretly pledged that he would never find himself sitting across from Tsunade-sensei in a stuffy room. Sasuke would tell his parents, there was no doubt about that. There was no threat that he could use to prevent him from doing so. He wasn't going, he decided.

Next thing he knew, he was being wrenched across the hallway, in the direction of the last place he wanted to go. Sakura was taking him by the hand to the dean's office, or in other words, the lion's den. She must have known that the only way he would have gone was if he was physically dragged.

"Sakura..." Itachi seethed. She knew he wasn't going if she didn't take her himself. Besides, his hand was warm.

"Don't worry so much, 'Tachi-kun. I'll protect you from Tsunade-sensei. I have something on her." Sakura teased. Itachi's eyes widened fractionally. Had she just called him _'Tachi-kun?_ How ludicrous. Not even his mother bothered him with one when he was a child. Of course, she had used the prefix '-chan' with him until he was five.

"How do you 'get something' on a dean?" Itachi grumbled as they stopped in front of a door so abruptly that they nearly skidded past it.

"Caught her drinking sake in her office." She whispered back before opening the dangerous looking door. How did someone make even a _door_ look scary anyway? Itachi was going to have to ask, so he could do the same. Maybe then she would stop going in his room while he was at school to 'clean.'

"You two had better start explaining what's going on." Tsunade-sensei growled when she saw who had entered her office. Sakura merely grinned, while Itachi looked like he wanted to hang himself. He did have something of a reputation to keep up, after all.

"I'm afraid we're not the culprits you're looking for. Luckily, I do know who they are. I have them on speed dial." She giggled cheerfully. Itachi glanced down at her. The devious girl, she was selling out her own friends. Then again, her three 'brothers' did get them into this mess in the first place. She had every right to pull them into it for causing such mischief.

"Is that so? Why don't you call them up then. I would like to see the students who defiled my school halls." Tsunade-sensei said calmly, a seemingly kind smile crossing her face, though the fury underlining it was clear to both students. Sakura returned the smile and flipped open her cell phone.

"I'll gladly call them, but they aren't students." Sakura said, pressing her number three button to call Deidara. She could rely on him to answer.

"Hello! This is Deidara, un!" A too-cheerful voice answered.

"Why hello, Dei-chan!" She said back, her own voice matching in sweetness and enthusiasm. On the other line, she could hear the loud-mouth blonde gulping nervously.

"Well, um, I have to go, Saku-chan, there's-"

"Too many people RSVPing already, Dei-chan?" She interrupted him angrily. The line went silent, and Sakura could easily picture Deidara sitting on a couch, fidgeting. Figuring he wasn't going to say anything in response, Sakura continued in saying, "Dei-chan, if you and your partners in crime don't get here in ten minutes, not only will I prevent you from paricipating in movie night, but I will put you three back into a cheap motel for the night."

The silence continued, and Sakura looked down at her phone to discover that he had already hung up. If she knew her brothers, they would be there before the first bell rang. Threatening to take away their precious move night was not something either of them took lightly, considering how rarely they came around. Sending them all to a motel only added to their need to rush, from what Sakura had heard, their first experience staying overnight at one didn't bode well with them. In fact, Hidan said he was going to have nightmares for the rest of his life.

Eight and a half minutes later, the three troublemaking boys barged breathlessly into Tsunade's office. Sakura and Itachi were both sitting in front of a large desk with a robust woman sitting behind it. While Sakura seemed to be completely at peace, Itachi looked throughly discomforted, the dean he was sitting before being the reason for his displeasure.

Upon their entrance, Itachi sent them a deafening glare, one that was ill-recieved by everyone but Sasori. It was understandable, the three of them were the reason he was even in Tsunade's office. If it weren't illegal, Itachi would have murdered them bare handedly. His glare was enough to relay this message to them, which only served to scare the hell out of Deidara and Hidan. Sasori being one who wasn't intimidated so easily, crossed his arms over his chest, looking rather unimpressed.

"Is it safe to assume that these three are the culprits?" Tsunade-sensei asked, turning to Sakura. She grinned in response, which was taken as a form of confirmation. Hidan shuddered, that grin she had plastered on her face was one rarely seen, one she only wore when someone was about to get hurt. Every other time he had seen it, it had been directed at him, and she had beaten him after it showed up.

"We're in trouble, aren't we, un?" Deidara asked weakly. Nobody bothered to answer his question, which meant that they were very much in trouble.

"Seeing as you aren't students of this school, I can't suspend you, and your foolishness isn't really worth getting the police involved, that would be too much of a hassle." Tsunade muttered, eyeing the three boys with a scrutinized look. She strummed her fingernails against the hardwood desk, creating an irritating melody.

"We apologize for our mistake. We hadn't known that out course of action would lead to so much trouble." Sasori stated, bowing his head in condolence. Him being the level-headed one, Sakura was surprised that Deidara and Hidan had dragged him into such a messy ordeal. Hidan and Deidara, standing on either side of him, bowed as well.

"While apologies are nice, I still have a whole school campus covered with flyers. I would not wish it upon the janitor to have to clean that monstrous mess up." Tsunade-sensei told them, continuing to watch them carefully. Deidara gulped nervously. he was never one to handle awkward situations. Hidan managed to make himself look at least a little less stupid than usual. He had the advantage of not having spoken yet, of course.

"We understand. Your school campus will be completely flyer-free before the end of the day." Sasori nodded. Sakura smirked to herself, it seemed that Sasori was in a talkative mood. Either that, or he was cracking under pressure.

"Very well, if it isn't finished by then, I _will_ involve the police, despite the mountain loads of paperwork. You can ask Uchiha Itachi how awful that would be." Tsunade-sensei snickered, pleased with the situation as she watched them back out of the room cautiously. Sakura giggled as the door gently clicked shut, not that Itachi was all that shocked. He was irritated that Tsunade had brought up his connection with the police. It was embarrassing to think he even had one, however undeniable it was.

"You two can go to class. I'm sure that you'll still show up before Kakashi, so I won't bother you with the pass." Tsunade-sensei sighed, obviously attempting to shoo them off. She was in dire need of some sake, and there was no way she was going to let Sakura see her drinking on the job a second time. The two teenagers left, both of them glad to be out of her office.

Sakura sighed in contentment. It had been a while since she had gotten her brothers into any real trouble. Since she hadn't previously had time to visit her locker, Sakura went to drop off her extra things, Itachi following in tow. He watched as she reached into her bag and then stretched elegantly to put things into her locker. The way her skirt hitched up ever so slightly when she put a book in her locker was highly inappropriate, just by how far he could see up her silky legs.

Itachi swallowed the saliva collecting in his mouth. Damn, he could be such a complete pervert. It wasn't her fault that she was so innocently irresistible, nor that he was looking at her like a piece of meat.

"Hey Itachi, do you want to come over for movie night? It's rare when we can have them, considering my mother's schedule." Sakura asked as they started their way to Kakashi-sensei's class. Itachi had to consider it. Sakura's three brothers would be there, and after the party plan they just pulled, he hadn't really wanted to see much of them. Then again, she did say it was rare for them to have movie nights, and just because he didn't want to be around his family, didn't mean he didn't want to spend time with another.

"What does your mother do for a living anyway?" He asked. For a second, she giggled.

"She's a police officer."

Itachi literally stopped in his tracks. That dainty little blue-haired woman was an officer? Was she strong enough to work under his father? Itachi knew his father was extremely hardcore, and didn't like hiring female officers. She must have been strong to get past him, considering how biased he was against women.

"You're _mother_ works under my father?" He uttered in awe. Sakura stopped as well to look up at him. How interesting. They lived in a small world after all.

"You're father?"

"My _father_ is head of the police department." Itachi explained dryly. He watched in amusement as she gaped up at him. It really _was_ a small world.

"So that's what Tsunade-sensei was talking about earlier. Of course the son of someone with seniority would know what dealing with the police would be like." She muttered, regaining her lost composure. How unfortunate, Itachi thought, her shocked expression was rather cute. Well, good things couldn't last forever.

"What are you going to be watching tonight?" He asked at last, changing the subject. Itachi hated talking about anything that has to do with his father, or the police core. Most of his family had joined, and because of that, he was expected to become an officer of the law when he graduated. He didn't want that, to be constantly surrounded by his infuriatingly pushy family. No, he wanted to be a lawyer, so because he was different, they all hated him. It was only natural that he reciprocated those feelings.

"Starwars, most likely. Does that mean you're coming?" She asked hopefully, looking up at him with the expression of a begging puppy. Itachi snorted.

"Maybe, but only if we're watching one of the originals. Those are way better than the more recent ones." Itachi stated. Sakura squealed excitedly and pulled him into a friendly hug. He didn't want to deal with Sasori, Deidara and Hidan, but she was worth being around them.

"Thank you, Itachi! This is going to be so much fun! And of course we'll be watching one of the original episodes!" Sakura bubbled enthusiastically, then taking his hand to continue to class. It was funny, but every time they held hands, it seemed to get more and more natural. Like they were made to fit together.

He was reluctant to let her pull him into class with them still holding hands, but Sakura dragged him in anyway. Kakashi-sensei still hadn't arrived yet, so they didn't have to worry so much about him. The rest of the class was waiting though, and was blatantly staring at them. Nobody said as a word as Itachi and Sakura made their way to the back to the room, but the entire class followed them with their eyes. Itachi sat down in his desk and cheerfully flipped them off.

Their classmates turned abruptly, starting small conversations with their neighbors. Nobody wanted to deal with a grumpy Itachi once class actually started, he would always start to send out this scary killing aura. So they went back to what they usually did, pretend he didn't exist.

Sakura clearly hadn't learned her lesson yet, Sasuke thought as he watched her reach into her locker to pull out a bento box. It was lunch, and Sakura was shockingly not with Itachi. He must have been waiting for her at their freakish little emo corner. How sweet, he thought sarcastically, Itachi's once dormant hormones had finally awoken. Sasuke hated sweet things. How he wanted to teach Sakura that she shouldn't wear such short skirts that made her too appealing, but that wasn't really in his place, was it, Itachi?

Sasuke wasn't in the least sorry about kissing Sakura, he had enjoyed every moment of it. Apologizing for it would be the same thing as telling her he regretted it. If he had the chance, he would do it again. She would get used it, and in time, she would have even kissed him back. They would never have the chance, because of Itachi.

Even though he wasn't in the least apologetic, he was there to make a believable apology. Itachi would somehow know if he didn't (because he miraculously could tell when Sasuke was lying), and he would throughly kick his ass. Why did _he_ have to have the scarily strong older brother who was occasionally violent?

Grudgingly, Sasuke walked up to her from behind and tapped her shoulder. She turned to gasp in surprise. Sakura hadn't expected to see Sasuke for a while, after how Itachi had no doubt threatened him. She wasn't sure she even wanted to see him, after what he had done. Part of her expected him to grab her and make-out with her again, despite whatever Itachi had told him. He wouldn't get away with just a slap if he did kiss her again. She would kick him in a place where the sun doesn't shine so hard that he would never get the chance to reproduce properly. He would foam at the mouth and roll around on the floor in pain, and she would walk away to tell Itachi. Then Itachi would only add to Sasuke's misery.

"Do you want something?" Sakura asked, her tone mocking. Sasuke saw a certain look in her eyes, and it was almost as if she was daring him to try to kiss her. He would go through hell if he did, her glance promised that much. She would do something terrible, and then march straight to Itachi.

"Actually, yes I do." Sasuke answered, following her with his hands shoved into his pockets as she slammed her locker shut and started to walk away. She didn't want to talk with him, that much Sasuke could infer. She was silent, almost like she was trying to will him away. Figuring she wasn't going to say anything, Sasuke decided to speak.

"Itachi told me to apologize." He stated. Sakura stopped in her tracks, feeling rather surprised. Itachi had told Sasuke to apologize to her? No doubt, he didn't intend for her to find out, it would seem too nice of him. He was so sweet, even if he didn't do anything fluffy or cute-tsy for her. It was probably because of the awful state he had found her in when she was sick; crying all over the place and hugging a toilet. Thank god it was a one day deal, Sakura hated being sick.

"I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not, and I don't want to lie to you. That was one of the most amazing kisses I've ever had."

"That kiss wasn't amazing at all. It was forced, and I didn't want it." Sakura retorted, crossing her arms in rebellion. How could he think that such a bitter tasting kiss was so wonderful? It hadn't felt right, and he should know, of all people, that the kiss hadn't been enjoyable.

"You can't tell me that you didn't like our kiss." Sasuke said, feeling just as stubborn as she did. Thinking about it made him only want her more. Her silky pink lips that were even more tempting now that he couldn't taste them again.

"Would a girl being raped think it felt good?" Sakura asked rhetorically, cutting off his thoughts.

"Don't compare my kissing you to a girl being raped." He growled angrily. Sasuke didn't like how she had so callously tainted his beautiful memory. He would not be compared to some cold-hearted rapist who took pleasure from degrading women.

"It has the same principal, and you know that. I didn't want you to kiss me, but you had to have it your way." She calmly replied, her face void of emotions. This part of Sakura was scary, Sasuke couldn't help but to think. The way her vacant eyes seemed to look down at her in disdain, eyes that were waiting for him to break down and apologize, to give up his pride. How could she want something so difficult of him, when it went against what he felt? He liked her, more than any other girl he had met before, and she would never return his sentiments.

"He's going to do the same thing, Sakura. He's going to want it too." Sasuke mumbled, feeling rather defeated. It took a moment for Sakura to understand who exactly who he was talking about. Itachi.

"Itachi wouldn't force himself on me like you did, Sasuke. He would wait for me to be ready, because he has the common sense to know I'll go to him. Even if he did grow impatient, and decided to kiss me, I would be okay with it! He has every right to do so, and he knows that!" Sakura roared, thankful that the hallways were empty for the most part. Sasuke stared down at her, feeling somewhat displeased with her proclamation. What was she thinking, allowing herself to fall for someone like Itachi? He would only end up breaking her in the end, take everything he could and then leave her an empty shell.

"He's going to break your heart." Sasuke mumbled. The only thing Sakura could think of to say was simple. The important thing was that it would hurt.

"And I would kiss him back."

Her statement felt like a knife being thrust into his heart, and then twisted mercilessly. She looked at him, watching his pain from her words. It was clear that it was said to cause him misery, and it did just that. She had never kissed him back, she had stood in shock when he had kissed her. Itachi would always get what he wanted, he would always trump him.

Sasuke didn't want to picture it, but his mind gave him a torturous visual. They were kissing; pulling, tugging, sucking and starving for more of each other, for something to satisfy the hunger, the need. It was dark, but he could see every detail. He could see how his brother held her in his arms protectively, how he seemed to wrap his entire being around her, and how she opened herself to let him consume her. It was longing, and passionate, and it would eventually be all for Itachi. Sasuke couldn't even describe his envy, nor his disgust.

"I'm sorry, Sakura." Sasuke turned and stalked off. _I'm sorry that he's going to kill you on the inside._

Sakura watched him as he disappeared, knowing he hadn't apologized for the kiss. She never expected him to in the first place.

**AN: Wow! Sorry guys, it took me forever to update this, you can thank the evil thing known as writer's block for that. And the fact that I moved, so I was super busy. Well, you know the routine! Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

There Itachi stood, having to make the most difficult decision of his life: should he get the _Master Chief _or the _Darth Vader_ pajamas? Itachi opted for the _Darth Vader_, since they were going to watching _Starwars. _Itachi snorted. What was he, a girl? He wasn't supposed to pick something because it matched. He was slightly tempted to just show up in his boxers, seeing as he normally didn't wear any pajamas anyway, but that would only result in his father arresting him for 'disturbing the peace.' _Master Chief _it was then.

Why was he buying pajamas that he would only wear once in his life? Oh yeah, because of Sakura and her 'Movie Night Rules.'

"_Okay, if you're going to come over for movie night, then you should know we have a few rules." Sakura said, once having gotten a clear answer out of Itachi. Itachi merely lifted an eyebrow_ _in amusement, wondering what kind of rules she might have made up. Don't eat all of the popcorn? No touching? What a ridiculous notion._

"_First things first, you must wear pajamas." Sakura stated, pointing up a finger to start listing her rules. She had been about to continue when Itachi cut her off._

"_Sakura, I don't wear pajamas."_

_She felt her face heat up, and Itachi was sure that she was imaging naughty things after seeing the look she gave him._

"_Then what do you wear? Don't tell me you don't wear anything to bed!" _

"_Don't be so vulgar, I wear boxers. I don't even own any pajamas." Itachi sighed, poking her forehead for thinking, and no doubt picturing, him going to bed stark naked. She rubbed her forehead and stuck out her tongue childishly, though her cheeks were still an adorable pink._

"_Well, I guess you could wear your boxers, or maybe borrow something from the guys-"_

"_That's okay, I'll get something at Hot Topic." He interrupted, not wanting to ever wear something that belonged to them. That would just be awkward. _

"_Sure. Now rule number two, if you know the lines to the movie, then you have to quote it." She continued, pointing up a second finger. Itachi snorted, but said nothing. If that was how she wanted to watch the movie, then far be it from him to stop her._

"_The third thing, don't lay down and take up the whole couch, unless you want someone to sit on top of you. That's just freaking annoying." Itachi raised his eyebrow, but remained silent. He had to reframe from saying 'you can sit on me if you want.'_

"_Our fourth rule, if someone randomly throws a pillow at you, you have the right to beat them down, but know blood." Itachi blinked. Was it even necessary to make a rule about things like that? Itachi had to wonder what in the world they were doing during the movie._

"_Last of all, the person who finishes the snacks has to get refills from the kitchen." Thank god, Itachi thought. At least they had one rule that made sense. The rest were just... Retarded, for lack of a better word._

"_Fine, though your rules are utter silliness, I believe I can reframe from taking up the entire couch and drawing blood." He said dryly, causing her to giggle. Little did he know why they had to make such silly rules._

Itachi sighed to himself, trying to ignore his coworker's comments as he checked out his item. He was going to bug him about this for weeks, all because he didn't think that Itachi was 'the kind of guy that wore pajamas.' Thank you, Sakura, he thought sarcastically. Well, at least he got to see Sakura in pajamas again. Continuing to ignore his coworker's jabs, Itachi snatched the black and red bag from the counter and left the store abruptly. He tossed his purchase onto the passenger seat, blasting AFI as he drove off.

Sakura stood in her bedroom, trying to come up with a resolution. She could wear the black plaid boxers and tank top as usual, but she didn't want to make Itachi uncomfortable again. Would it be better if she just wore the Jack Skellington pajama bottoms instead? She resolved that this was the best course of action, if she didn't want to scare him off. He may have seen her in just lingerie before, but it hadn't been intentional. Sakura slipped on her pajama pants ant the matching tank top.

Once she was dressed, Sakura went downstairs to prepare the snacks. There was going to be popcorn and soda, as was tradition. Since Itachi was going to be there, she had decided to make dango as well, and of course tea had to be made to go with it. It took a lot of work to make dango, but if it made Itachi happy, then it was worth it.

Deidara had a curious expression when he entered the kitchen, finding Sakura rolling mochiko. He knew who it was for, and figured it was better to not say anything. Dango wasn't a normal movie night snack, after all, and he knew she hated to get sticky and covered in mochiko. It was obviously for Itachi; he could think of no other reason for her to go through the messy process.

Hidan, of course, couldn't decipher this much when he entered the kitchen and finding her hard at work. Deidara was still there, having silently watched her for a quarter hour. She was diligent, but it was clear that her already short fuse was shortening, rapidly. Her impatient temper had the tendency to get the best of Sakura when she did such troublesome things.

"What the hell are you doing this shit for, Saku-chan?" Hidan asked, crossing his arms and leaning on the door. Deidara held his breath, knowing that even a small remark could easily set her off, and then there wouldn't be anything left of the kitchen, or Hidan's facial structure. It was true that the four of them were proficient in martial arts, but after her father's death, Sakura had become a fearless fighter. She was the only one of the group to actually succeed in getting a black belt.

"What do you think I'm doing it for?" She asked evasively, her tone clipped. Either Hidan was too dense to know he should leave the matter at that, or he just took pleasure in patronizing her. Sakura was prone to think it was the latter. If anyone knew how to push her buttons, it was Hidan. Sakura, who had the habit of showing too much of her emotions on her face, made it clear to Hidan why she was making the dango. It was for Itachi, and it embarrassed her that they would know how far she would go for him. It may have been only making dango this time, but what about next?

"So Itachi has a fucking sweet tooth, huh?" He snickered. Fully pleased with himself, Hidan watched as her face reddened with anger. Keeping her back to him, her hands clenched around the dango she had been rolling, smashing it out of shape. He failed to see this dangerous sign, and continued.

"I'm guessing this isn't the first time you've done something _sweet_ for your little boyfriend." Hidan sneered, not having time to prevent the misshapen dango she launched from hitting his face. Seconds later, her fist connected with his jaw, and then her foot with his stomach. Her kick was enough to send him from the kitchen and into the hallway.

"He's not my boyfriend!" She defended herself angrily, watching as Hidan rolled on the floor, groaning. He nodded his head to agree, not wanting Sakura to unleash more of her fury. He should have learned his lesson by now, after several years of abuse, but he never seemed to. Maybe he never would, not that he cared all that much. Teasing Sakura, no matter how dangerous it was, was his favorite pastime. She always reacted in the same way, by hurting him. As painful as it was, it never failed to be amusing.

"If you talk about stuff like that while he's here, I'll kill you." Sakura growled. She huffed angrily, then turned back to her work, taking out her frustration on the dango instead. Deidara backed out of the kitchen, knowing that his presence alone could set her off again. She was nervous, it seemed; she was more irritable than usual when she was.

Sakura thought that she might have overreacted slightly when Hidan called Itachi her boyfriend. Had she really needed to be so defensive? It was clear that they both had the same feelings for each other, so maybe he would eventually get enough guts to ask her out. What would it be like to be his girlfriend? Would it be so different then it was now? She didn't want it to change al that much between them, she still wanted him to be her buddy at the same time. She was being ridiculous, she told herself, of course they would still do 'friend' things together.

How would he act tonight, she wondered, seeing as her mother would be there. Her mother had never really seen them together, and hardly even knew of the attachment they had for each other. If she knew her mother, she would observe them for the first ten minutes, then once she understood his personality, she would tease him endlessly. Sakura would either laugh at her jests, or turn red with embarrassment and shame. If her mother did manage to get Itachi to blush, she would have to laugh, as the gesture would be so unthinkable. She believed her mother to be quite capable of getting such a change of countenance form him.

Sakura finished preparing their movie snacks without (somehow) blowing up the kitchen in frustration. Hidan had quickly recovered from her painful blow, and even sooner forgot about his reason for being hit in such a brute-like manner. Deidara managed to escape Sakura's fury before she could do any serious damage, and Sasori was completely ignorant of what had passed. Konan came home with no consequence, and found it to be unusually peaceful, considering who was over. She had been half expecting to come home to a burnt down house, but the establishment was fully sound. Until there was ring on the door bell, that is.

Itachi stood awkwardly at the front, dressed in pajamas and wearing slippers that showed off his black toenails. He had walked to Sakura's house exactly as he stood, and though it was a mere three houses down, he recieved several inquiring looks. His mother had done nothing but stare at him when she was what he was wearing, and Sasuke had run into his room to hide the fact that he was laughing. Itachi was emmencely thankful that his father hadn't been there to see his disgrace. He wouldn't have heard the end of it.

As soon as the bell rang, there was a mad dash for the door, each person wanting to answer it themselves. There was yelling from the four of them, which was heard clearly by Itachi. In the end, it had been Konan who answered the door, while everyone else wrestled on the floor. She smiled meaningfully, and opened the door wider as to let him in. He wordlessly entered, ignoring the pointed look she gave him. Sakura jumped off the floor to greet him, which he readily accepted, with as much enthusiasm as his personality could allow. Konan saw this change in character from him seeing her daughter and watched the in amusement.

"Wow, Itachi, you really did go to Hot Topic for pajamas! I was having a hard time picturing you in pajamas, you know. Did you really walk over here like that?" She asked. She didn't so much as giggle, but he saw the laughter in her green eyes. Itachi couldn't deny the humor in his wearing pajamas, nor of his walking down the street in them. If it had been anyone other than him, he might have laughed himself.

"Yes, I did walk here, and the neighbors found it quite hilarious themselves. My coworker had probably a harder time picturing me in pajamas than you. He wouldn't stop bugging me about it." Itachi replied dryly, and in one breath. For him to say so much at once was a shock to everyone, except perhaps Sasori, who understood the prejudice against people who were seemingly antisocial. Nobody even expected them to say anything, and when they did, it came as quite a surprise.

"We decided to watch _A New Hope_. You can't get anymore original than that." Sakura said, walking into the living room. He followed closely behind, as did the rest of the group. There were snacks already laid out on the coffee table. Itachi's eyes were quickly drawn to the plate of dango strategically placed in the middle of the table. His mouth watered at the sight of such sweet delights, and made by none other than Sakura.

The seats were quickly decided, Konan took an armchair and Sasori, Deidara and Hidan literally threw themselves onto the couch, leaving the love seat for Itachi and Sakura. He wasn't comfortable with the fact that they decided their seats for them, but he did like the fact that he got to sit close to Sakura for two hours. His thoughts preoccupied him so much that Sakura took it as reluctance, and had to pull him into the chair herself. Sometimes, she thought, he could be a little too modest with her. It wouldn't be the end of the world if he held her hand, or kissed her cheek with people around. She found herself wishing that he would publicly claim her as his.

As the credits began to roll, the popcorn and sodas went around, and Sakura passed Itachi his dango. They had to watch it in subtitles since Deidara's, Hidan's and Sasori's English wasn't proficient enough to understand everything being said.

About half way through the film, just when Leah told Luke he was a little short for a storm trooper, Sakura sighed and leaned into his shoulder. He was obviously not going to be making any moves, even if it was the perfect opportunity to do so. Itachi was completely taken by surprise, and at first wasn't sure of what he should do in response. He glanced at her brothers, but they were too absorbed into the movie to notice anything more than that. He turned his head and his eyes met with Konan's. She said nothing, and it only lasted a moment before she turned back to the screen, as if to give him permission.

Knowing that nobody would object to him doing so, Itachi carefully slipped his arm around her. She gave another contented sigh as she sank lower into his arms, muttering, "Well, somebody's got to save our skins!" along with Princess Leah. Itachi smirked to himself, completely pleased with everything. He never thought it would ever happen, but he was happily in love, and she reciprocated his feelings. Before Sakura, no girl tried to get near to him, or even bother to look in his direction. Everyone had always been too scared of him, they never even tried to get to know him. He wished he had talked to someone before she came, Itachi had never realized how nice it was to hold a conversation without being judged. Then again, only Sakura was capable of that.

Itachi was utterly at ease with Sakura in his arms, and if he could have his way, he would never let her go. Sakura was slowly combing her fingers through his ponytail, which was swept over his shoulder. He could feel her warm breath when she exhaled, and every time she smiled, he could feel it through his shirt before he could see it with his own eyes. She concentrated on the movie, but he found himself to be distracted; he kept looking back down at her peaceful face. More than once, he thought she had fallen asleep, but then she would shift slightly, or whisper one of the lines. Her mother didn't seem to mind their closeness at all, which Itachi was glad for. She did keep looking at them, but it wasn't out of anxiety, but more out of relief.

Konan hoped more than anything that Itachi could make her forget. He was a little awkward around people, but from what she could tell, he was also kind hearted and sweet, something Sakura needed. Konan didn't want to use the boy just because she thought he could heal her daughter, but she knew he was capable. He was protective of her daughter, and though it was unnecessary, Konan was glad someone cared for Sakura so much. As long as Sakura was happy, she didn't care _what_ they did, as long as he used some sort of protection. Konan doubted they would do it anytime soon though. Sakura wouldn't want to, and she couldn't picture Itachi forcing her into anything she didn't want to do. He respected her wishes too much.

Itachi knew Konan was reading deeply into his character, but he wouldn't go through the trouble to stop her. To do so would only draw unwanted attention to himself, and by her brothers. They still hadn't realized that he had their little sister curling herself into his chest, and when they did notice it, they would certainly object. Hidan would do two of either evils: Tease them endlessly, or throw a pillow at his head. He, of course, would have to retaliate, which would break up his little arrangement. Based on how similar their characters were, Itachi predicted that Sasori would merely glare at him. If he were a lesser man, that would be enough to scare him off. Deidara was unpredictable. One moment, he was trying to push them together, and the next, he was protecting Sakura.

The three boys were too enraptured with the clash of lightsabers and the explosions of deep-space warfare to notice much of anything else. The movie couldn't last forever though, and when it ended, the lights turned back on, and the snacks had to be cleaned up. For a moment, Itachi didn't want to let her go, but Sasori immediately glared at him_ and _Sakura, just as he guessed he would. She stretched like a cat and yawned softly. He took in her sweet strawberry scent, hoping it would be enough to last him until he got to hold her again.

"You three get clean-up duty." Sakura said, standing up and stretching again. They whined and groaned, but the three of them knew it was only fair, since she had set it up. Sasori got to work diligently, and by the looks of it, he would be doing most of the cleaning.

"I've got to be going." Itachi sighed, thinking about the mountainous pile of homework he had yet to finish. Sakura nodded her head and followed him as he walked to the door. She watched as he put on his slippers, and surprised him by slipping on her own. Konan saw her daughter's intentions in walking Itachi home, and had no objections to her doing so. Sakura had done stranger things than walking down the street in pajamas. It was unusual for a mother, but part of her anticipated her return to hear what happened. Perhaps, though it seemed very unlikely from Itachi's general character, they would kiss. Sakura was old enough for such things, and Konan thought it might be good if she were involved in a serious relationship.

Sakura smiled as she shut the front door and stole Itachi's free hand. In his other was the leftover dango, which she had decided to give him since he loved dango more than anyone else she knew. Though someone else might not have noticed it, Sakura saw a ghost of a smile teasing his lips, begging to be displayed properly. They walked to his house without saying anything to each other, her humming the Starwars theme song, and him listening in content silence.

Little did they know, Sasuke was furiously watching from his bedroom window up above. He had laughed at his brother's expense after seeing the pajamas, but the truth of it was that he was jealous. Itachi had spent the evening over at her house, where he so desperately wished he was right then.

He waited for them to come home for one reason alone, to see if his disturbing premonition would come true. If not tonight, it would be the next, or some other time near then. He couldn't decide if he did want to see them kiss or not, wether he wanted to torture himself or not. Sasuke normally wasn't the type to be masochistic, but he thought it might put him at rest if he did see it for himself. Then he could move on, find some other girl to fall in love with, if any other was worthy of such attention.

Itachi stopped at his front door and looked down at Sakura. This was where they parted, and he wasn't positive wether or not he should do something. Should he say goodbye? Wish her a goodnight? Kiss her cheek? Perhaps all of the above. He didn't have to make up his mind for himself it seemed, because she squeezed his hand and then stood on her toes to kiss his cheek. The smile that had been haunting his face finally showed itself, and he kissed her cheek as well. She blushed cutely and whispered goodbye. Itachi let her hand go and watched happily as she walked back down the street to where she lived.

Sasuke let out a breath of relief he hadn't known he was holding. He listened as the door downstairs opened, his mother tried to get Itachi to eat something, and then as Itachi walked up the stairs. He waited for the music to start, but instead his door flew open. Sasuke was shocked, and irritated to say the least. He saw no reason for Itachi to waltz on into his room, no matter what reason he had.

"You were watching us." He stated. Sasuke couldn't believe that Itachi was angry just because he had been watching them as they kissed each other's cheeks. He glared at his older brother, hoping he had nothing else to say and would just leave him to his misery.

"Don't." Itachi said, looking about the room and retreating in disgust. Even after Sakura's clear displeasure with the room, Sasuke still hadn't done anything to improve it. How pathetic, if Sakura had asked him to paint his room bubblegum pink, he might have. Sasuke clearly didn't care about what she thought, all _he _cared about was getting what he wanted from her.

Just as he always did, Itachi violently slammed his door shut to dissuade anyone from bothering him, and turned on his CD player. With the comforting sounds of _My Chemical Romance_ filling his room, Itachi stared at the homework taking up his desk. Sighing, he sat down to finish his work, already knowing it was going to be a later night than usual. Sakura was worth it though, he smirked inwardly.

Sakura was bombarded by everyone as soon as she walked through the front door. Deidara and her mother were dying to know if they had kissed, Hidan wanted to know what the hell was going on, and Sasori was in the process of scolding her for 'cuddling' with Itachi on the couch. Sakura proceeded by telling Hidan to shut his obnoxiously loud mouth. Once having recieved the silence she longed for, she continued.

"Sasori, I'm old enough to 'cuddle' with him if I want to." She said, crossing her arms over her chest. He glared at her in protest, but she glowered right back at him. Their contest of sorts lasted a minute before he agreed with her. As much as he didn't like the fact that Sakura was no longer a little girl, it was something he was going to have to accept eventually.

"Dei-chan, Okaa-san, stop imagining me and Itachi making out in front of his house." She said, turning to the scheming duo. After seeing their disappointed faces, she couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness, and decided to tell them, "He did kiss my cheek though."

They both squealed excitedly, wanting more details than she had to give. Sakura rolled her eyes disbelievingly. Sometimes, it felt like her mother was more of a sister than anything else. What kind of mother looked forward to her daughter's first kiss, anyway (she refused to think that her experience with Sasuke had been a kiss)? It was fine though, it was probably better if her mother knew everything from the beginning so there wouldn't be any shockers. Sakura didn't want her mother to go all police officer on his (gorgeous) ass.

Hidan was still oblivious over what had passed, but Sakura had neither the patience nor energy to explain it to him. In a few minutes time, he would forget what had happened anyway, so Sakura saw it as a fruitless endeavor. Sure enough, Hidan went into the kitchen to finish cleaning, or in plainer words, eat the leftovers.

Sakura escaped to her room, to organize her thoughts better. Itachi seemed to be the only thing she could think about, it was starting to get harder for her to concentrate on anything else. During the movie, she had tried so hard to focus on the film, but his earthy, masculine scent had fogged her thoughts, making it impossible for her to think of anything else. He was someone she couldn't ignore, even if he wasn't trying to get her attention. A knock sounded at her door, forcing her to be pulled out of her mind.

"Can I come in?" It was her mother who was outside her bedroom; she had been expecting Deidara to come. Well, here it came, the mother-daughter talk about boys, and relationships. It was rare when her mother used any of her parental authority, so whatever she had to say, it couldn't be that bad.

"Sure." Sakura sighed, throwing herself over her bed in exhaustion. Her mother entered, her long, blue hair out of it's bun and flowing down her shoulder. She smiled softly, meaning that the conversation wasn't going to be a scary one. Her mother chuckled at the decor, this had been the first time she had seen the room since moving in.

"I want to talk with you, honey. It's about Itachi-kun." Konan said, sitting on the edge of her bed. Itachi... he was always coming up, it was always about him. Not that Sakura really cared either way.

"What about him?" She asked tiredly, sitting up on her bed and crossing her legs. Her mother never used to ever talk to her about boys, so why would she start now? Of course, she still didn't know about the date Temari had blackmailed her into going on with Gaara about half a year ago, nor the date with Sasuke less than a week ago. Sakura wondered what kind of conversation they would be having if she knew Sasuke had made out with her the other day at school.

"He really likes you, doesn't he?" She asked. Sakura blushed, but didn't bother with denying it. She never was much of a liar, and so there was no point in even trying, her mother could see right through her.

"I think he does, Kaa-san." Sakura replied. She looked into her mother's golden honey colored eyes, and saw the happiness, and slight concern in their depths. It was understandable enough. Though Itachi was able to heal her heart, he could also end up breaking it in the end.

"I know I should be telling you things like 'don't have sex,' but I don't mind it so much. I do, however, want to know if you do have sex, and you _have_ to have some sort of protection." Konan said in complete seriousness. Sakura's eyes widened in surprise, not expecting her mother to bring _that_ up. So much for a non-scary conversation.

"Mom, I don't think that will be happening." She finally sputtered, still not believing her mother's bluntness. Her cheeks flushed at the very idea of Itachi and her participating in such... activities.

"I know how the games go, Saku-chan." Her mother laughed. It was true that Sakura didn't like the idea right then, but that could change very quickly, and very soon. Her hormones would kick into motion eventually, and when they did, Sakura could very well take advantage of Itachi, not that he wouldn't want to stop her.

"Please Kaa-san, I don't even want to picture..." Her voice trailed off, mostly because it was a lie, and because she was getting a very detailed visual of the thing she just said she didn't want picture. Konan saw how her daughter looked away in embarrassment. She laughed, knowing exactly what was going through her head.

"Stop lying to yourself, Sakura." Konan joked, watching as her daughter flopped back onto the bed, hiding her face in her hands. It was beyond awkward, talking about such things with her mother, of all people. Part of her wanted to hang herself, while the other wanted to roll around in laughter.

"He's almost a full-grown man, Sakura. It's perfectly understandable for him to want to do that with you, and it isn't a laughing matter." Konan told her daughter, trying to keep a straight face. It cracked though, and so they both rolled around together, laughing hysterically. Konan supposed that she wasn't much of a mother, if she was laughing while giving her daughter a chat about doing _it_, but at least Sakura had an inborn maturity, and so she got the main idea.

"Kaa-san, you're the one who isn't being serious!" Sakura giggled. Her mother sighed, knowing her daughter was right. Well, nobody could say that she didn't try. This was when she left her little Sakura, who incidentally, wasn't so little anymore. It was hard to think of her as grown up, that would mean that she was _old_, and she was not ready to start thinking that.

Sakura relaxed herself, and throughly drained, she crawled under the covers. She didn't really want to (who was she kidding, that was a lie), but her little visual flashed through her mind again. Itachi hovering, her clawing her fingers into his back and him whispering into her ear. Pulling, pushing, tossing, turning, sucking and licking, it was disturbingly detailed, as if she was invading someone's privacy, only it was her own.

Blushing furiously, Sakura hid her face under her pillow, wanting to scream. She shouldn't be picturing such things about her and Itachi, they hadn't even kissed before, they weren't even official. On top of that, just because 'he's almost a full-grown man,' that didn't mean that he would do that with her... She wasn't even sixteen yet. The fact that she would be in two days teased her in the back of her mind, but that point was besides the fact that she couldn't be thinking about Itachi like she was. It wasn't right of her. She needed to figure things out, before she ended up doing something she would regret.

**AN: Thank you guys, for sticking with my story (though my lack of reviews is sort of depressing)! My chapters keep seem to get shorter and shorter, but I don't know what to do about that. Please give me some feedback!! **


	10. Chapter 10

_Dear Diary,_

_Wow, that sounded really cliche. Well, whatever. Why am I writing in this stupid journal at five in the morning? Well, that's easy. I can't sleep, I can't even close my eyes without thinking about him. I wonder if he feels the same as I do. He's probably asleep right now, but I long to see him, to hear his voice. Great, now I sound like some sort of love-sick fool. I do love him though. Strange._

_I need to talk to him about this, it's starting to get out of my hands. And there's another thing, the whole ordeal with Sasuke. I don't like leaving it as we have, I still want to be his friend. Do you think a friendship would be enough for him, or will he only accept my love? I can't give him my love though, and he knows that, but I still want to fix things. I guess I can talk to him before school, and set things straight. I hope it won't get on Itachi's nerves too much, but he knows I belong to-_

There was a sudden knock on her door, and Sakura's mother walked into the dimly lit room. She looked disapproving of the lack of lighting in her bedroom, but was too sleep deprived to recommend her. Sakura had forgotten that he mother woke up so early in the morning. By the looks of it, her mother already was ready to head down to the station. Konan looked at her daughter tiredly, surprised to find her sitting at the desk, writing in a small, black book. She blinked a few times, trying to figure out why Sakura had decided to wake up so early, when she normally slept in.

"Saku-chan, what are you doing?" She finally asked, walking into the room. Sakura blushed slightly, and then closed her black book. Konan sighed, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"I couldn't sleep." Sakura muttered, joining her mother on the bed. Konan nodded her head, understanding everything instantly. Sakura's head was so full of Itachi that she couldn't even sleep properly. She hadn't suspected that her feelings for Itachi were so strong, but that was fine. The more Sakura preoccupied herself with Itachi, the less time she had to think about her father.

"I see." Konan smirked. Her daughter was growing up, falling in love. Next thing she knew, Sakura was going to be getting married, and having children of her own to care for. They went so fast, it felt like she hadn't had hardly any time with her at all. It wasn't fair, and she knew there was nothing she could do to change it, to stop the process.

"I can't stop thinking about him." Sakura admitted. Her mother chuckled to herself, remembering when she had felt like that for Nagato, all of those years ago. They had been childhood friends, and as they grew older, they discovered feeling for each other that they had never thought they would have. Then Sakura had come along, and before they could catch up with themselves, they were parents. That wasn't to say that they hadn't wanted their daughter, they had just been so young. Konan had barely been nineteen when Sakura had been born.

"I remember how that felt, so long ago. I suppose I had been around your age when I began to feel as you do, and years later, I ended up marrying him, and then you came along."

Konan was careful to not say his name, she knew the affects of mentioning Nagato in Sakura's presence. Yet, Sakura instantly thought of her father, and his marriage to her mother. She refused to cry, to let her memories take over her again. She knew that Deidara was right, she needed to move on, to get over the fact that her father wasn't going to come back. She just didn't know how.

"Sakura, just because you move on, it doesn't mean that you forget about your father. You can still cherish your memories of him." Konan said, watching as Sakura fought her emotions. She was doing so much better, Konan realized. There was only one reason for Sakura to be improved so much after such a short amount of time, Itachi was doing more for her daughter than even he suspected.

"Kaa-san, tell me how you met Otou-san again." Sakura whispered. Konan smiled proudly, and nodded her head.

"His family had moved, and he became a new student at my elementary school."

_Konan looked up from her workbook at the sound of the classroom door opening. In walked a boy with flaming orange hair, and a bored expression, as if he were above everyone else in the room. He silently walked to the teacher's desk, then handed her a yellow slip of paper. Sensei inspected it for a few seconds, then looked at the boy standing before her. His hair was a severe case of disarray, and she noticed with repulsion how he had two piercings on each ear. Sensei sighed tiredly, but gave him a warm smile nonetheless. His face remained blank._

"_Attention class, we have a new student joining us from Harajuku, Tokyo. I want everyone to be nice." Sensei said, standing up. The boy looked across all of the faces in the room, landing lastly of all on Konan. Her teeth gritted in irritation, already knowing what he was thinking. The new boy thought she had funny hair. Well, he had no right to think her hair was funny, considering the color of his, She thought angrily. The new boy saw her frustrated expression and smirked slightly. Konan fumed, looking back down at her workbook. Great, another kid to make fun of me, she growled inwardly._

"_Can you tell the class your name?" Sensei asked sweetly, turning back to the disinterested looking boy. He stood silently for a few moments._

"_Pein." He finally drawled, closing his eyes in exhaustion. Konan looked back up at the boy curiously. He hadn't bowed, irking most of the other, well-groomed students, offending them so soon after his arrival. Sensei's face scrunched up in exasperation. _

"_That's not your real name. Tell the class what your real name is." She reprimanded the new boy who called himself 'Pein.' The orange headed boy looked up at her in disdain, clearly not wanting to say what his true name was. He knew better than to object though, and so he turned back to the class full of inquisitive peers._

"_It's Nagato." He corrected himself, earning an approving smile from Sensei. _

"_Thank you. I'm going to have you sit behind Konan for today." Sensei told him, pointing to her. Nagato followed her finger with his eyes, and smirked after seeing the blue haired girl. She glared at him, which Sensei seemed to have missed. He walked down the isle of desks until reaching his, and he pointedly looked her haughtily before siting down. Sensei looked satisfied, and she went back to her desk. It was a few minutes before Nagato, who was utterly bored, said something._

"_You have blue hair?" He snorted quietly, so Sensei couldn't hear him. Konan bristled in her seat, not liking his mocking tone. She had diligently turned to her work after he had sat in his seat, trying very hard to pretend his smug face wasn't right behind her._

"_So? Your stupid hair is orange _and_ messy." She retorted under her breath, only just loud for him to hear her. He growled back at her in fury._

"_Well, it's better than dumb old blue." He finally said. She spun in her seat to face him, both of them glaring relentlessly. She took in his strange, grey eyes, and his ear piercings. He didn't look away after seeing her odd, golden-honey eyes, but instead smirked with a sense of superiority. It was a while before she finally spoke._

"_If you think that your stupid piercings make you look cool, then you're wrong." _

"_It's still better than having fucking blue hair." He sneered._

_Konan didn't even think about it, but instead acted on instinct. She jumped over the desk to tackle him onto the floor. They rolled around, drawing the attention of the other students, who began to chant either of their names. Konan had hardly known what she had done until she was pried off Nagato, and then dragged into the hall. Sensei, who was known to have an unlimited patience, talked to both of them. Konan listened to her attentively, while Nagato stared at her with disinterest, not really caring about what she was telling him. _

_Both had to stay after class to write lines, and the entire hour they spent in the almost empty classroom was utterly silent. Sensei watched them the whole time, observing how they silently fumed, both of them blaming the other for their predicament. It wasn't until the hour was over that either of them dared to look at each other. It was Konan who spoke first, despite the fact that it meant that she had lost to him. _

"_I'm sorry, Nagato-kun." She whispered, adverting her eyes from him. He sighed, digging his hands into his pants pockets._

"_No, It's my fault." He grumbled, also adverting his eyes in embarrassment. Thus, what should have been a life-long friendship was born._

Sakura smiled sadly at the story, remembering the first time she had heard it. Her father had been in the room, and after hearing Konan's version of the story, he had insisted that it was inaccurate. There had been no resolution, but it had been a very amusing thing to watch. There were so many stories that they had told her, and half of them they couldn't agree on. Their first date to the movie theaters, when they had kissed for the first time, how he had finally gotten the backbone to ask her to be his wife, and when they had found out about her.

There were so many stories of them, and Sakura wondered how she could be so selfish for all of those years, compared to what her mother must have felt. I hadn't been fair of her, not at all. Her mother had so many years with him, and she should have had so many more, but that had been taken away prematurely. She was so self centered, never wondering what her mother had felt after the crash.

"Sakura, I don't blame you for how much you've missed him." Konan whispered sadly, hugging her daughter briefly. Sakura watched as her mother stood and made her leave, knowing that she had to leave for work.

"I'm sorry, Kaa-san." Sakura replied softly, looking down at the hands in her lap. Konan smiled down at her daughter, taking the time to ruffle her hair thoughtfully. Sakura looked up from her hands, her emerald eyes meeting with her mother's golden. She knew that her mother wasn't angry with her, even if she probably should have been, and it made her feel even more guilty. How could she be so inconsiderate?

"I have to go. I expect Temari-chan and Gaara-kun to arrive sometime soon, so keep your chin up." Konan said wisely, shutting the door as she left Sakura's poorly lit room. Sakura knew her mother was right, she didn't want her friends to have to see her in such a pathetic state anymore.

"Have a nice day, Kaa-san!" She called as her mother marched down the stairs. There was no response, and so Sakura looked at her clock, and after seeing that it was almost five twenty, she forced herself to walk across the hallway and into her bathroom. She tiredly stripped to nothing and turned the red knob to her tub faucet, letting the water run hot before pulling the plug to close the drain. Sakura turned the blue knob slightly to add cold water. She mixed in some _Bath and Body _bubble bath, and slipped into the hot water.

It was soothing, and ran the coldness from her body almost instantly, but it did nothing to clear her head, like she had hoped it would. Itachi had to be asleep still, it was too early for someone mentally sane to be awake, she told herself. She unwillingly pictured him stretched over his bed, his black comforters just barely covering his body, his toned chest unabashedly showing. She growled at herself, and splashed her face with water to drive such thoughts from her head. It failed to help.

Sakura busied herself with scrubbing her body harshly with a rough sponge, then by digging her fingers into her head with strawberry shampoo. When everything was as clean as she could possibly get it, she slumped completely under the water, only her face being above it. She shut her eyes, and let the steam uncloud her thoughts. It seemed to work slightly, so when she could think about something other than Itachi she stood and grabbed a towel to wrap it around herself. She looked at her flushed expression in the mirror, and then brushed a comb through her tangled, pink hair. Once satisfied, she snuck across the hallway again and into her bedroom. Sakura put on her school uniform and went through her bag, to be sure she wasn't missing anything. Her bag already packed, she sighed and slumped onto her bed. She had nothing to do, and it wouldn't be at least a half and hour before she needed to go to the bus stop.

Breakfast, she remembered, she still needed to eat breakfast. Sakura jumped down the stairs and into the kitchen. With thirty minutes to kill, she pulled out a large mixing bowl, along with some flour, milk, eggs and vanilla. She combined the ingredients and heated a pan on the stove. Her batter prepared, and her pan ready, she poured some in and waited to flip her pancake. Sakura cooked all of the batter, and when she had a large plate of pancakes, she took two for herself, and covered them with maple syrup. The rest were put into a one hundred degree oven, to keep warm for her boys. Once she had finished eating, she rushed up the stairs to grab her bag and then to the door.

The bus came with no consequence, and Sakura sat in spot nearest to the exit. It was loud and hot, as always, and she felt relief at getting off.

Sasuke was standing at his locker, a cell phone in hand and his infuriating best friend standing next to him. He was trying to ignore Naruto's silly antics about him stealing Sakura from Itachi, knowing that it would be futile. Apparently Naruto had missed his ranting on how Itachi was a vampire who drank the blood of little children.

"Sasuke-kun." He heard that sweet voice call. He looked up from his phone screen, and sure enough, Sakura was standing there. She was smiling slightly, which he hoped was a good sign. Naruto stopped his constant blabbering about him stealing

Sakura and making her like him.

"Konnichiwa, Sakura-chan!" He chirped cheerfully. Sakura giggled, while Sasuke groaned in exasperation at his friend's simple blunder.

"It's not afternoon, Dobe. You say 'ohayo gozaimasu' in the morning." Sasuke corrected Naruto in irritation. Sakura continued to giggle, it didn't really matter if Naruto wasn't good at speaking Japanese, she thought it was cute that he tried for her. Besides, they didn't teach Japanese at their school, so whatever Naruto picked up, it was probably either from watching anime, or listening to Sasuke and Itachi.

"Fine then. _Ohayo gozaimasu,_ Sakura-chan!" He said, putting both hands behind his back proudly. Sakura laughed, but then turned back to Sasuke again.

"Sasuke-kun, I need to talk to you." Sakura sighed, though unable to ride her face of the sweet smiles, and her beautiful, jade eyes met his cold, dark ones. She quickly deduced that he had no intention in being commodious, or of even speaking. He was angry with her for choosing Itachi over him, and she understood that. To her though, it felt like she was just a possession of Itachi's, at least in Sasuke's vantage point. She was just a shiny little toy to fight over. Sakura knew Itachi didn't feel that way, which was reason enough to favor him over his brother.

"I don't like the way we left things. I know you and your brother have a complicated relationship, but I still want to be your friend."

He shook his head stubbornly.

"Sasuke, I don't know how you like to do things around here, but _I_ never leave things hanging like this." She said, pointing a dainty finger to his chest. He flinched visibly, but said nothing.

"Wether you want to or not, you're coming to my birthday party, and you're going to have _fun_, despite whatever you might think."

"My brother is _hosting_ that cute little party of yours. What makes you think that I'll want to be there?" Sasuke asked dubiously. She huffed, and crossed her arms over her chest. There was no way that she was letting him get out of going.

"Yes, he will be, and that means I get to dress him in a ridiculous outfit, one that even _you_ would have to laugh at." She stated wisely. He blinked at her in confusion. Sakura was going to humiliate his older brother for her brother? This, he had to see.

Itachi was looking for the disappearing little pink-haired girl, when he found her speaking to his younger brother. As always, the blond punk was there as well. He didn't like how much of Sakura's legs the two boys could see, nor how please Sasuke seemed to look. Whatever she was saying, it was making him happy, which for Itachi, would mean a dangerous thing. He walked up to the group, and casually, slinked an arm around her, as a reminder to Sasuke that she was _his_.

"What are we talking about?" He asked cooly, ignoring Sasuke's blatant staring. Sakura laughed, meaning they had been talking about something he wouldn't like. Sasuke didn't appreciate how easily Itachi showed his possessiveness of Sakura. It was as if he was rubbing it in his face.

"My birthday." Sakura smirked. Itachi grimaced. He didn't like this one bit.

"I was inviting Sasuke-kun. He wants to see what you'll be wearing as my host." She continued, the teasing smile growing wider. Was she serious? Itachi had thought that the whole party ordeal was nothing more than a hoax, he never considered that he'd actually have to host it. Then again, the invitations were already out, and half of the school was going to be showing up at Sakura's house on Friday night. He believed himself to love her, but he wasn't willing to dress up like a clown for the sake of her amusement. That was too below him.

"I will dress as _I_ please. I refuse to look like a fool." He replied stubbornly. If Sasuke was somehow involved, there couldn't be a good ending.

"Actually, I will be deciding what you wear."

"And why is that?"

"Because, I'll let you dress me in _anything_ you want." She whispered. Both Sasuke's and Itachi's expressions changed into multiple looks of shock. Sasuke looked utterly horrified by what she just said, while Itachi seemed to whole heartedly approve. Sasuke didn't like how smug his older brother looked then.

"Can you really trust me to do that? I may not be Hidan, but I wouldn't mind a replay." He murmured playfully. She blushed crazily, confusing Sasuke to no end. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what they were talking about or not.

"Would you really dress me in lingerie for my birthday?" She asked anxiously.

"I'm very serious, Sakura." He purred, letting the syllables of her name roll off his tongue mischievously.

"You're not serious. You can't be." Sakura breathed.

"No. I'm not." Itachi chuckled. Sakura took what he said so seriously, she really needed to stop being so gullible. Still, he had wanted to know what his boundaries were, he seriously doubted she would let him choose 'whatever' he wanted for her to dress in. For example, lingerie was out of the picture. On top of that, what he said had served to irk Sasuke greatly, which amused him.

"Sheesh, you had me worried there for a second." Sakura sighed. Much to everyone's relief, the bell rang for first period. Itachi smirked, then kissed Sakura on the cheek, giving Sasuke a pointed look.

"I have to go to my locker. I will see you in AP U.S." He muttered. Itachi turned to leave, but Sakura grabbed his hand to stop him. She stood on her toes, and kissed the corner of his lips.

"I'll see you there." She told him, and then left a very pleased Itachi in her wake. Sasuke was livid, while Naruto was utterly confused. Wordlessly, Itachi left as well. Naruto patted Sasuke on the back sympathetically.

"Well, so much for that." The blond said. Sasuke ignored his friends.

Itachi was beyond pleased, beyond ecstatic. He was sure that he was so much closer to her being comfortable with him kissing her. She would have to wait for her birthday though, that was when he planned to finally take her lips. Sakura wasn't nearly as desperate for him as he wanted.

It was finally lunch, and Sakura had brought an extra-large bento. She had noticed, with aggravation, how Itachi never ate anything for lunch. She happily walked down the hall, until finding Itachi in their usual spot.

"I brought you some lunch this time." Sakura said in greeting, sitting next to him. He rolled his eyes at her concern, not really wanting to eat anything, even if it was probably Sakura who had made the meal. He wasn't all _that_ hungry.

"You are going to eat it." Sakura growled, seeing his reluctant expression. She opened the bento box and the smells of rice, edamame and fresh-water eel filled the air. She smirked after seeing his eyes drawn to her bento.

"I'll feed you." She pouted. Again, he rolled his eyes at her, but he decided to let Sakura do as she wished. She saw his change in mood and picked up a piece of unagi with her pink chopsticks. Itachi grudgingly opened his mouth, and she put the unagi in. Sakura giggled as she watched him chew the food, and then as he swallowed.

Sakura fed him another bite, and then reached into her bento for something Itachi didn't recognize. She took a bite of whatever it was and nearly moaned with appreciation. To Itachi, it looked like a strange twist on one of his favorite foods, onigiri. Sakura saw him looking at her, and apologetically smiled, thinking he was waiting for another bite. She set down her unrecognizable food and gave him a bite of rice.

"What is _that_?" Itachi asked dubiously, after quickly chewing and swallowing the rice she had fed him. Sakura followed his gaze, and picked up the unusual onigiri again. She smirked at him, and then answered.

"_This_ is a Hawaiian delicacy, known as the spam musubi."

He continued staring at her musubi, not understanding how anything with processed meat could ever be considered a 'delicacy.' She saw this contemplative expression, and took another bite, as if to disagree with his thoughts. He eyed her musubi warily, and Sakura had a hard time not laughing at him.

"It has spam in it. It can hardly be healthy." He finally said. Sakura gave in, and laughed at his unneeded caution.

"That's funny, coming from a sweet tooth." She giggled. His face scrunched up in confusion and irritation. His having a partiality for things that were sweet had nothing to do with her 'Hawaiian delicacy.'

"Last I knew, dango didn't have processed meat in it." He retorted with a huff. To Sakura, it seemed that Itachi had a sensitive spot for his little, Japanese snack. Sakura wondered if Itachi had a soft spot for her, but knew better than to get her hopes up, this was Itachi. She had to tell herself that Itachi wasn't the person everyone seemed to think he was, he had proven it himself, time and time again.

"Be nice, or I'll put 'processed meats' in your dango." She muttered, mimicking his bored voice to the best of her ability. Itachi paled, completely horrified by the thought of finding spam in his dango one day, revenge via Sakura. The very thought was unsettling. Smirking in victory, she took another bite of her musubi, throughly proud of herself. He sighed, then stole her chopsticks to get another bite of unagi. She stopped him in his tracks, taking the chopsticks back. He suppressed the urge to groan, and patiently opened his mouth to get a bite of eel. It was at this inopportune moment that someone Itachi couldn't identify decided to interrupt them.

"Saku-chan!" A girl called, running up to them. Again with that nickname, Itachi mused. Sakura turned from him, knowing the voice, while Itachi looked somewhat put out at having been interrupted. Secretly, he had been enjoying Sakura's ministrations, her insisting on feeding him. While it was a little annoying, it was also cute. Much to his chagrin, she jumped up to meet the girl. Sakura ran, and both girls met with a tight hug. Absentmindedly, Itachi wondered what it would feel like if Sakura hugged _him_ like that.

"Temari-chan! What are you doing here?" Sakura exclaimed excitedly. She had expected Temari to show up eventually, but she had never suspected she would show up at her school. Not that she minded, she was always happy to see her best friend.

"You want me to leave? Well, I can't say I blame you." Temari teased, poking her head around Sakura to look at the boy sitting behind her. Sakura blushed considerably, knowing not to bother with denying anything. If anyone could see through her, it was Temari.

"He's hot... Is he a senior?" Temari asked in Japanese. Being in America, she had thought he wouldn't be able to understand her sly comment, which he had, of course, instantly made sense of. Itachi glared at the mystery girl, not liking her observation when it came from her. Sakura blushed even more so at her friend's truthful comment, and turned to glance at Itachi. She giggle quietly at his slight blush and deathly glare; it wasn't a combination she got to see on a regular basis. He obviously didn't like what Temari had said about him.

"I can hear you, you know." He muttered.

Temari glanced between the two of them and smirked approvingly. "Good thing too, because I wouldn't let my Saku-chan go out with anyone who couldn't understand Japanese. She tends to forget what language she's talking in when she gets overly excited."

Itachi blinked a few times, then noticed the redhead boy approaching them. For a moment, he had almost confused him for Sasori, but then he saw the excess of black eyeliner, the blueish eyes, and the tattoo on his forehead.

"Itachi, this is my best friend Temari, and her younger brother, Gaara-kun." Sakura finally said, a weak smile on her face.

Oh hell, more visitors. Just what he needed.

**A/N: So here's the rest of Sakura's old Harajuku group! Hooray! To anyone who's wondering what a 'spam musubi' is, it's basically a heap of sticky rice, topped with a slice of spam, and then wrapped in nori. It's actually very yummy, and is a common snack in Hawaii. Not that I live there anymore... (sad face) but I was eating one when I wrote this. I suggest it to anyone who's never tried it. Don't be a hater like Itachi just because it has processed meat in it, LOL!**

**I'm seriously disheartened by my lack of feedback. Please leave me a review, I promise they'll kiss soon!! Don't throw bricks!!! **


	11. Chapter 11

Itachi sighed, feeling rather cooped up in Sakura's room. Her party, that he was unfortunately being forced into hosting, would start in an hour, and Sakura had yet told him what to wear. He was thankful that it would not take place at his house, that would have been awful. He could only imagine his parent's reactions to whatever Sakura ended dressing him in, and to the mob of teenagers that were bound to start appearing. Nobody knew her all that well, but if there was going to be a party, everyone was going to show.

Temari, who he realized was like a sister to Sakura, was scheming about what he should wear, flipping through the closet. Itachi did not even want to know why Sakura was in possession of men's clothing, nor who had been the last to wear them. He was better off ignorant.

A pair of skinny blacks were thrown at him, which he assumed he was meant to wear. If he was just going to be wearing skinny jeans, then he should have brought his own pair; he had them in abundance. Temari stared at him, as if waiting for something. A smirk flashed across her face, and he realized that she was waiting for him to change there. His eyes shot up, him being unable to perceive _why_ the damned woman would expect that of him.

His surprise forgotten, Itachi glared at the blond girl. "I am not dressing here, Temari-san."

"You can go across the hall into the bathroom, Itachi." Sakura said, sending a knowing look to Temari. Her best friend meant well, but making Itachi undress there was a bit overboard. There had to be other ways to push the two of them together, Temari thought.

This Itachi person was amusing, always taking everything to heart, her mind continued. Hot, to be sure, but not overwhelmingly masculine. He was the perfect thing for Sakura, this much she knew, and seeing how close they were as is, it should not have been so hard to get them to kiss. She had been trying all day, but to no avail. Based on his somewhat aloof character, Temari was sure that Itachi would never actually make a move of his own. She did not, of course, know of his carefully put together plan.

"Sakura, I have my own black jeans, you know." Itachi stated, standing awkwardly before them. She did know this, but Temari seemed to be more in charge than she was.

"I know, Itachi. Come back here, and we will have the rest of your outfit selected for you." She replied, sending him a smile. His mouth hardening into a thin line, he turned and left wordlessly. Sakura turned to Temari.

"That was not necessary, you know." She muttered, standing up from her bed to go through the closet as well. Temari chuckled, finding a dark purple netting shirt. She pulled the hanger it sat on out of the closet.

"What do you think, would he like this?" She laughed. Sakura's eyes lit up at seeing Hidan's old netting. It would be perfect, she could not help but to think. It would be just like him not wearing a shirt at all. Sakura wholeheartedly approved. She looked once more through her closet, until finding the jacket she wanted.

It was mostly black, but with a grey collar and sleeves that ended at the elbow, along with neon green buttons and underlining material. It might be a little tight on him, but that was exactly what she wanted. A grin growing on her face, she selected the neon green neck tie to go with it. Sakura would not have gone with the jacket at all, if it were not for the fact that Itachi would never accept her outfit without it. He was going to be merciful in selecting hers as is.

Itachi reentered the bedroom, finding the girls giggling crazily. Then he saw what Sakura held in her hands. He was not sure of what to think of it. He could only assume they intended for him to wear what she had in her hands. The blasphemy.

The thought of wearing something that stood out so much was unthinkable, but then again, she _was_ letting him chose her outfit as well.

"Well, take off your shirt." Temari said smugly. Itachi bristled at the thought, then looked down at the _Slipknot_ band tee he had been wearing in remorse. Both girls looked up at him expectantly, waiting for him to proceed. A scowl prominent on his face, he pulled the black shirt over his head and threw it to the floor. Without a word, he reached out his hand to take the 'clothes' from Sakura.

While Temari had hooted at his bare chest, he noticed how Sakura quickly turned red. As if she were trying to not look, Sakura handed him the jacket and netting. It was futile though, she thought excitedly as she shamelessly watched him pull the netting shirt over his head, and then as he slipped his arms through the jacket. He was embarrassed to admit it, but as he looked into the full length mirror, he had to conclude that it did not look all that bad.

"Not done yet, Itachi." Sakura told him, interrupting his thoughts. She handed him a studded belt, and as he ran it through the loops to his pants, she slid the green tie around his neck. She carefully tied it, remembering all of the times she had done the same for her brothers; only this time it was different, this was Itachi.

He cleared his throat when she slowly ran her fingers down his neck tie to straighten it. She looked up at him in a fluster, and then stopped at what she was doing. A smile breaking over her face, she added the last touch, and she slipped a pair of purple leather gloves. Itachi blinked, then looked down at his gloved hands. He supposed he would have to survive the ridicule for one evening, but it would be worth it after he kissed her. If he was truthful, he would admit that it even looked sort of cool.

"Does this mean I get to dress you now?" Itachi asked carefully. Temari snickered.

"Yes." Sakura answered, conviction underlining her voice.

"Are you going to give me any rules?" Itachi muttered, hoping to have gotten a more specific answer from her. She thought about it for a moment. He was not Hidan, so she could most likely trust him, but he was still a male. And if she knew anything about males, it was that they were a whole hormone-driven lot.

"No, at least I do not think I need to." She murmured thoughtfully. Itachi gave her a strange look, one that she did not care to interpret.

"Good. In that case, I want to see a little replay of the gothic jewelry and maybe the black linge-"

"No lingerie, Itachi! There will be no replays of that!" She shouted, a blush scalding her cheeks. Itachi had the very sudden urge to laugh at her response. He had never really intended to have Sakura walking around in practically nothing, he did not want anyone else to be allowed to see that.

He snorted. "I was not being serious, Sakura."

"Don't do that to me, Itachi. It was not funny."

"Actually, it was quite humorous, if I do say so myself."

"No, it was not! I really thought that you were going to dress me in underwear!" She shrilled, inching closer to Itachi, and then grabbing the scruff of his jacket. They glared at each other for a moment, before Itachi's expression softened slightly.

"That was the point, Sakura." He said, to distracted by her heady scent to think clearly. He was tempted to give in, instead of waiting and proceeding with his plan later on. Itachi shook his head, knowing that the plan should not be changed.

"Well, I do not like it." She mumbled, her eyes hazing over with something less angry. Temari completely forgotten, Sakura leaned into his chest, letting his masculine smell consume her. She stood on her toes, reaching up to give him what he so desired.

"Can you guys wait until I _leave_? I really do not want to see a heated make-out session, even if I have been trying to push you two together for the past couple days."

Sakura stopped, her mouth so close to Itachi's that she could taste his breath on her tongue, mixing with her own. He had forgotten his plans all together, and was shocked when their lips did not meet. His eyes widened in surprise, it seemed that she was eager enough for him. He still had to wait though, until later that night, when he could separate her from the party. That was when he was _supposed_ to kiss her.

"Sorry." Sakura uttered to them both, backing away from Itachi before she really did kiss him. Temari laughed at their joined embarrassment, and then left the room, sending them both a wink. Itachi blinked, unsure of what to do or say next.

Much to Sakura's disappointment, Itachi did not decide to kiss her, even though they now had the privacy to do so. Instead, he looked briefly into her closet, until pulling out what he wanted to see her in. Sakura smiled at his selection: a classic black maid's outfit. It reminded her so much of the time her father had gotten it for her, and when her mother had thrown a fit.

Sakura took the clothes from his hands, forgetting how she was slightly angry that he had failed to kiss her a moment before. Then she realized, she had not cried, not even thought for a second about her father. What did that mean? She wondered if she had Itachi to thank for that. It seemed like the most probable answer.

"I'll be right back." She said, leaving him to himself in her room. He sat down on her bed, determined to wait for her. His plans for the evening were set in stone, at least in his mind, but she had almost broken his resolution to make the kiss special. With no one remotely close to them, no one able to interrupted.

When Sakura returned, she saw Itachi's intent look in his eyes, one she could quickly decipher. She could practically feel the anticipation rolling off him in waves. He wanted her, badly. Just as she did him. She could not understand why he chose to resist, when they could easily get what they wanted then. Curse him for being so goddamned stubborn. Sakura would not force him to do it though, she would wait if she needed to. Even though she was dying for him.

"The party is about to start. We should go downstairs." Sakura said, walking up to him. He let her take his hand, and together, they walked down the stairwell. There were her three brothers, already downstairs and ready for a party. The living room was transformed; not a single flowery couch was in sight, and there was an expensive looking music system. Apparently, Sasori was a DJ back in Japan.

He realized that at least he would not be the only one dressed so ridiculously. He wanted this all to be over with, but when the door bell rang, the last thing he wanted to do was answer it. The three boys looked at him, a smug expression fixated on each of their faces, and Sakura was beyond irritated. He was going to have to answer the door, he sighed in disgust. His attitude shifted, and he was glaring darkly as he stalked to the door.

It just _had_ to be his foolish little brother who stood on the other side of the door. The world was just to cruel to him, it seemed. Just his luck, the infuriating blond had to have come along as well. This night was getting better by the second. Not.

Sasuke snorted, and Naruto, who had much less finesse than his friend, started outright laughing. Itachi scowled at the pair, and not having the right to strangle Naruto, he clenched his fingers around Sasuke's throat.

"You will do _nothing_ to Sakura. Do so, and I will not hesitate to skewer you on a stick then roast you alive." He ground out, tightening his grasp slightly. Sasuke gasped, trying desperately to get air into his lungs.

"Enough, Itachi." A soft voice said from behind him, as it's owner came into view. She place a delicate hand on his shoulder, more as a warning than anything else. She was a black belt, and she would restrain him if necessary. Then again, he never did tell her about how he had trained the martial arts long enough as well, long enough to be considered just as proficient as she was. He might have to use that to his advantage though, she he reframed from doing so.

He regretfully let go of Sasuke's neck, and moved aside. Rubbing his throat, Sasuke sent Itachi a glare, and entered the house. He knew better than to start something with his older brother then, not when a huge group of people where going to be arriving, and he did not want get his ass handed to him in front of them.

"I invited Sasuke, so be nice." Sakura muttered to Itachi, and then kissing his cheek. He sighed in defeat, then closed the door. When he started to return into the room, the bell rang for a second time. He growled, but after Sakura sent him a subtle glare that told him to answer it despite his adversity to doing so, and he tried to glower through the wood of the door. When the ringing did not end, and a hole did not burn through the door, he stomped back and opened it.

A platinum blonde girl with a short, skimpy purple dress walked proudly passed him, a more modest girl following in tow. The shy girl bowed apologetically for her friend, before entering herself. He said nothing, but watched as Ino apprehended the room, and then let her gaze move to Sasuke and Sakura, who were talking somewhat comfortably. As much as he did not like the idea himself, at least _he_ had a reason for feeling jealous. She was merely a pompous fangirl who believed she had a chance with his brother, not that he really cared all that much. In fact, she probably did have something of a chance, seeing as Sakura had no interest in him, but of course, she did not know this.

Sakura turned to see Ino not-so-subtly glaring at her, no doubt because of Sasuke. He had only come to see Itachi, and now that he had, she had been trying to convince him to stay. It had not been hard, considering the feelings she knew he harbored for her, and so he would stay, until he deemed it best for him to leave.

"Why, hello, Sakura. This is a really nice house you have here, so close to Sasuke-kun's too!" Ino said cheerfully, though Sakura could tell she was angry. She smiled genuinely, knowing it would agitate her.

"Thank you, it is so nice to live near the Uchiha household." She replied honestly, but Ino seemed to look even more sour than before. Sasuke wondered when Sakura was going to tell her that she was with Itachi. Ino looked simply furious, and when she said nothing in response to this, Sakura assumed that she would turn to bother Sasuke. She did not.

"Sakura, would you mind showing me to the bathroom?" Ino said sweetly. Sakura shrugged, and began to lead her out of the room, but as soon as they were out of view and into the poorly lit hallway, Ino grabbed her upper arm.

"I do not know what you think you are doing, inviting Sasuke-kun over here, but you cannot have him, even if he did kiss you. Sasuke-kun will belong to me, and nobody else. He just has not realized it yet." Ino said, tightening her grasp. Sakura lifted an eyebrow in mild surprise, but said nothing. It was apparent that Ino was trying to be intimidating, but it was not going to work on a karate black belt.

"I will make your life a living hell if you _ever_ speak to my Sasuke-kun again. Do I make myself perfectly clear?" She seethed. Sakura snorted as delicately as she could. It was hard to be intimidated by someone who has poorly bleached blond hair and wears more makeup than they should.

"I am not interested in Sasuke." Sakura stated calmly, releasing herself gently from Ino's hold.

"Do not lie to me! Everyone knows how you and Sasuke-kun were making out by your locker! You cannot have him!"

"I have no feelings for Sasuke, and he knows that. I have already told him as much. You can have him."

Ino blinked in place, not comprehending what she had just said. If she had just heard Sakura correctly, then she had no interest in the awesomeness known as Sasuke. He was the most amazing person alive, and she was utterly rejecting him? Ino was not sure if she was happy about it or not. Sasuke's pride surly was compromised, but that also meant he was up for grabs, something she was going to have to use to her advantage.

"Why? Sasuke's better looking than any other guy in school." Ino asked dubiously. Sakura laughed at the blond, clearly disagreeing. Sasuke had nothing on his older brother, at least in Sakura's opinion.

"Have you seen his older brother?" Sakura said, a faint blush peppering her face. Ino blanched at the very thought. The girl who stood before her... liked Uchiha Itachi? The ultimate freaky emo of the school? She had to be insane. But, Sasuke was free to be taken.

"Well, then. How intriguing. You will not have to worry, I doubt anyone would want to steal him from you." Ino said carefully. Sakura laughed again, knowing how true her statement was. Nobody would ever steal Itachi from her, because nobody had the guts to find out what he was really like. All the better, that meant more Itachi for her.

"I would not have it any other way. Itachi is mine, and no one can steal him from me." Sakura said with clear determination. Ino nodded her head, sensing the threat underlining her comment. With that, Sakura left the hall, going to join a now semi-crowded living room.

People from school were everywhere, most of them she had hardly spoken to before. She was fine with it though, it was a party after all. There was Hana, her younger brother Kiba, Ino, the lazy ass Shikamaru, the obsessively chip-loving Choji, Hinata, her cousin Neji, Lee, Tenten, the bug dude Shino, a guy chewing on a straw, Naruto and Sasuke of course, and then an animated boy she did not know was talking excitedly with Itachi. She noticed how similar he looked to Sasuke and Itachi; perhaps he was an Uchiha as well?

"Itachi, care to introduce me to your new friends?" Sakura asked, knowing that Itachi had abandoned his post at the door. It seemed that he had propped the door open, and people were filing in on their own accord. She neither was surprised, nor objected to his course of action. She was amused that he had even bother to answer it after letting his brother in.

"They are not my friends." He muttered under his breath. Both older boys standing with him feigned a hurt expression, the one with a straw in his mouth clutching his hand to his chest. Sakura laughed.

"To think you would disregard your own flesh and blood. I am so hurt, Itachi-chan." The other said, his tone mocking. Itachi glared at him for the suffix he had attached to his name, but said nothing.

"You are related to Itachi?"

"Yes, I am Uchiha Shisui, Itachi-chan's cousin. I have known him since he was in diapers." The one who looked similar to Itachi snickered. Shisui looked nice enough, Sakura thought. Though she was unsure of how he got to learn of her birthday party; he looked like he was a few years older than everyone else.

"And I am Genma. I followed Shisui over here so we could get Itachi to agree with this deal we want to make. We were not sure where to find him at first, and when we heard he was here at a _party_, we had to see it for ourselves. You can imagine our joined surprise when it was him who answered the door. We were besides ourselves with laughter when we realized what he was wearing."

Sakura laughed cheerfully, liking both of the boys very quickly, and seeing why they would be shocked by Itachi's current appearance.

"Speaking of which, Itachi-chan, what do you think? Will you be able to do it for us?" Shisui turned to his cousin, hoping for a positive answer. Sakura glanced between the three boys, wondering what they were talking about. Itachi saw her confused expression, and decided to fill her in on what was happening.

"They are a part of a band, and they want me to design the album art to their next CD."

"That is amazing! Are you going to do it, Itachi?" She exclaimed, entirely enthralled. After seeing his sketchbook, she could easily understand why someone would want to hire him for something. Sakura really hoped that he would design it for them.

"I am undecided, as of yet." Itachi sighed.

"Ne, that is what you said a few minutes ago. How long does it take for you to make up your mind?" Shisui complained loudly, reminding Sakura of a small child being denied candy, or the right to stay up late. It was amusing to see that sort of attitude from an adult, however young he was.

"We need to know soon, Itachi. We will give you a little time to think about it though." Genma said calmly, in comparison to his ambiguous friend.

"You should do it, Itachi. Imagine... the whole world seeing something that you have drawn. That would be so cool!" Sakura told him excitedly. His eyebrows dropped into a small scowl, showing that he was deep in thought. Shisui, who knew Itachi better than most, saw the reaction to her words with amusement. It seemed that Itachi-chan had finally grown up a little, if he like that girl that stood next to him. If he thought about it, it was a little unusual that a girl would approach him at all.

"We will let you have some time with your little girlfriend. You do not have to answer now after all." Shisui said, winking knowingly. Sakura gaped up at him in surprise, not being able to figure out how someone had figured them out so quickly. Itachi grimaced at his cousin, not liking his blunt statement. He did not like how Shishui had said something so personal out loud for anyone in the room to hear.

"I guess that explains the clothes." Genma muttered thoughtfully.

Silence.

"Well, see you later, Itachi-chan. Have fun with pinky." Shishui said with a straight face. Both Sakura and Itachi stared at him. Genma in tow, he left, not laughing until he thought they were out of hearing range. Itachi had, very predictably, heard their sneering. He sighed, then looked about the room, noticing that it was much fuller than earlier.

There was a rather large crowd of teenagers in the middle of the room, dancing in ways Itachi was sure was inappropriate. Sasori was still behind the music board, taking song requests and mixing like a professional DJ. Sakura looked pleased, and turned to Itachi, who was uncomfortable with her scrutinizing glance.

"You want to go freak?" She asked, a devious smile growing on her face. Itachi gulped dryly. Was she being serious? He sincerely wished she was not.

"I would rather not."

"You do not want to _bump _and_ grind _with me, Itachi?"

"It sounds painful."

"No more painful than mosh pits. I would say those are much more violent, though I suppose more fun." Sakura mused, a smirk still clear on her face.

"I am not much of a dancer, Sakura."

"It will come naturally." She retorted, leaving no room for argument. Sakura pulled him into the group of people, not giving him any time to resist before she leaned her back into his chest. She moved her bottom slowly and smoothly into his crotch. When it became apparent he had no idea how to respond she took either of his hands to place them on her hips.

Sasuke watched on in horror as his brother and Sakura danced in the crowd, both of them moving together with the song, ignoring everyone else in the room. It was wrong, Sasuke decided, nobody but him should be allowed to dance with Sakura like that, to rest their hands on her hips so intimately. He stood to the side, looking at only them, blowing off every invitation he got to go to the dance floor. There was only one he could ever accept, and she was too busy grinding her ass into Itachi. It was disturbing to think that he could lose so pathetically to his brother.

Itachi looked about the room of people, everyone being too busy with what they were doing to pay attention to him and Sakura. It was now or never, he thought to himself. It was finally time to commence with his plan.

"Sakura, come with me." Itachi murmured, leaning down to talk directly into her ear. She looked up at him, her big, innocent eyes shining with curiosity. Sakura made no answer though, and followed him outside of the house with understanding. He did not like the huge crowd, and she made sense of that much. He was something of an antisocial person, and she could not expect him to change that anytime soon.

Pulling her by the hand, Itachi led her into the cool night. He said nothing, not trusting his voice enough to rely on it. She did not question his reasoning for dragging her out her birthday party, but followed willingly. Perhaps she knew what he intended to do.

It was not until he had led her into a small park about a block from their neighborhood that he turned to her. They stood facing each other for a moment in the light of the streetlamp, neither of them certain of what to say to one another. She now knew what he had intended to do by pulling her away, and she was inexplicably ecstatic, but still so uncertain. It was Itachi who eventually breached the distance.

He pulled her into his arms somewhat awkwardly. She stared up into his dark, smothering, obsidian eyes, and let him swallow her whole. Carefully, and never breaking eye contact, Sakura slipped her arms around her neck, pulling her higher to his face. Cautiously, not wanting to do something she would not want, he slid his hands down to rest on her lower back.

Sakura leaned into him, her eyes flickering shut as his face lowered to hers. Her lips parted slightly, waiting expectantly for the inevitable. Slowly and surly, he met them with his own. They were silky, like satin, and tasted sweeter than the dango she made for him.

Sakura reveled in the feelings Itachi gave her as he pressed his succulent lips to hers. This was just as it was supposed to feel: new, exciting, and beautiful. It was nothing like with Sasuke, Itachi knew that as much as she did. It was special between them, unlike it had been before. It was amazing.

Much to Sakura's surprise, she felt his slick tongue slide against the seam of her lips, begging for entrance. Her breath hitched, but she opened her mouth despite her initial shock. He pulled her higher into his arms, his tongue gliding along hers. Sakura moved with him, as if it came to her naturally.

An anxious feeling rose in Itachi's chest, and he moved his hands up and down her back. He would pull, and then she would pull right back at him. It was most definitely worth the wait, he concluded, taking in her heady, intoxicatingly sweet breath. Sakura was so special, so pure. She was exactly what he needed to set himself straight.

Sasuke should have suspected as much when he followed them out of the party. Itachi had gotten what he could never have, and he had forced himself to watch it, to accept it. It was just like it had been in his disturbing premonition. They leached off each other, the way they kissed so determinedly, so desperately. Sakura twisted herself into him, living off his need, his longing, his passion.

Itachi was taking her in all entirety, sucking her out for him to consume, and she let him. It was painful to watch, but he needed to do it, he needed to see the truth. Sakura was Itachi's. He was branding her with his lips as he had hoped to the time he had partaken in her that morning before school. If it was not obvious before, it was now. Sakura might just have loved his older brother, and it was clear that Itachi reciprocated those feelings, based on how hungrily he molded his lips with hers.

Sasuke walked back in the direction of their neighborhood, passing right by the loud party at Sakura's house. He marched straight home, and feeling too nauseous to eat any form of a dinner, straight up to his room. Sasuke threw himself onto his bed, and turned on his CD player to drown in Lady Gaga. He never thought it was possible, but he desperately wanted to cry.

Sakura gasped when Itachi pulled himself off her, liking her lips as he did so. It had been the most wonderful night of her life- the night she kissed Itachi for the first time. Despite both of them lacking in experience, he had known what to do, and she had reacted to him perfectly. If it was not clear before, it was now; the were meant to be together, no matter how cliche it sounded. Sakura was pretty sure that she just might love Itachi. It was so different from anything she had ever felt before, and she liked that.

"Happy Birthday, Sakura." He mumbled into her pink hair, listening to their erratic breathing. Happy Birthday, indeed, Sakura thought to herself.

**AN: Here it is, they (finally) kissed! I hope everyone enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it! Please leave me some reviews, the first kiss is a big jump to make!**


	12. Chapter 12

Guests had returned home, Itachi being the last to leave. Sakura has already decided that it had been the best birthday of her life; she had finally kissed Itachi. She was sixteen now, and there was only one problem she could think of in her complicated life. She was certain that she was in love. It had never been her intention, but when she felt Itachi's smooth lips against hers, she knew it to be true.

What was she going to do when he decided that he no longer wanted her, when he had moved on? Her heart was going to be broken, and she knew it. She was younger than him, so much more ignorant. Sakura had never understood how he could be interested in her to begin with, but she felt it even more acutely. She was so childish, so why was he hanging around her? She knew that he had some sort of feeling for her, but was that all there was?

Sakura shook her head, sitting on her bed in boxer shorts, waiting for Temari to return from the bathroom. She had to stop being so pessimistic. Itachi had to love her back, otherwise he would not have waited so long for her to kiss him back. He would never intentionally hurt her, and she had to believe that.

Temari opened the door to Sakura's bedroom, finding her best friend in a state of deep thought. She had been wondering when she was going to get to talk to Sakura about her little (or maybe not so much) boyfriend. It seemed that now was her golden opportunity to do just that. She wondered what she was so worried about, Temari herself was feeling somewhat jealous of Sakura; she had hooked the best looking guy she had seen in a long time.

"You look worried about something." Temari smirked teasingly. Sakura looked up from her bedspread, sort of surprised to be interrupted while in her own little world. She smiled tiredly back at her, knowing that she was right.

"It is Itachi." Sakura replied. That was all Temari needed to hear to know that she had been right.

"What about him? He seems perfectly wonderful to me." Temari shrugged. Her subtle way of asking for more information that what she had been given. She more often than not acted civilly, but Sakura knew that her friend was probably the biggest gossip in all of Japan, next to Deidara. She would never tell Deidara what she was about to say, of course, and despite Temari's reputation, Sakura knew she could trust her.

"Well, he finally took initiative and kissed me, but-"

"With or without tongue?" Temari asked abruptly, her well known bluntness shining through. Sakura blushed at the question, preferring not to answer. It was not really any of Temari's business whether or not the kiss had been the most amazingly steamy make-out sessions in all of history, but Sakura knew her friend well enough to assume that they were never going to get anywhere if she did not share the information.

She sighed. "With tongue." Temari squealed in excitement, but said nothing. Sakura supposed this meant she was meant to continue.

"Temari, I think I might be in love with him. I never premeditated for it to happen, but when he kissed me like that tonight, that was the only thing I could feel. I know he feels the same way as I do, but I am worried that he will not always think of me as he does now. I do not want to be so concerned about it, but part of me is afraid that he will grow bored of me and move on, after he had taken everything from me."

"You always did stress out over every little detail." She murmured thoughtfully, sitting on the large bed next to Sakura.

"But Temari, it is a legitimate concern. If he wants something more than a kiss from me, I will not know what to do. I cannot give him everything, but he may want that from me."

"Sakura, if Itachi really does love you like I think he does, then he will be more than willing to wait. You give him too little credit."

Sakura thought about it. She was right, Itachi had gladly waited for her before their kiss, and so he would know to wait before anything else. He knew how she was, perhaps more than anyone else, and so he probably already knew that she would not be ready for such things for quite some time.

"I guess you are right. Itachi is more patient than anyone in the world, and he will wait if need be." She muttered, a blush creeping back into her fair features. Temari laughed in good humor, patting Sakura on the back.

"Although, he may not know what to think, after the way you danced with him earlier!" She snickered.

Sakura gasped. "You noticed us?" She asked shyly. Temari nodded her head feverishly, and then broke out in laughter

"Everyone saw how you were dancing earlier! Even I have heard about Itachi's antisocial reputation, and so I had to be surprised when you dragged him out to the floor. He looked like he wanted to hang himself, the poor boy!"

"Great. Now his younger brother is probably going to be pissed at us. He must have seen as well."

"Who, chicken-ass? Hell yeah! I was watching him most of the evening, because I know what he did, and as soon as you guys started dancing, he looked like he was going to throw up. Then, when you disappeared, he did too. Do you think he was stalking you two?"

Sakura's eyes widened in horror. Sasuke had seen them kissing in that little park just outside of their neighborhood. Monday was going to be hell, she had no doubt that Sasuke was going to pester her about it, if her suspicions were correct, and he had watched them make out. He was going to make her think about things she would rather not.

_He is going to want more than just kisses.... Sakura, he is going to break you, and there is nothing I can do about it now. _She could easily picture him saying that.

"Boys are so much trouble to deal with." Sakura mumbled, her eyes drifting back to the comforter on her bed. If Temari had noticed Sasuke's little display, then who else had? Ino would be furious with the fact that Sasuke still had no interest in her, despite the fact Sakura had rejected him.

The door opened, and Konan poked her head in. "Lights out, girls. It is late as it is, you do not need to be up any longer." She said, before looking into Sakura's face intently. "Saku-chan, I want to know the story in the morning."

The door shut again, and with her cheeks tinted red, Sakura groaned out loud and fell onto her bed. If even her mother figured it out, then the rest of her party guests must have as well. Sakura was beginning to hate the perceptive people she was stuck around. Well, not really.

Mikoto had always been a person to wake up with the sun, a firm believer in that the early bird got the worm. Both her sons did not share her opinion on the advantages to waking up early, but it was to be expected. They were both teenagers; practically men, and therefor more stubborn than even her husband. She understood that they liked to sleep in late, especially after returning home late into the night from a party.

She liked having the time to herself, there was no other time that she could truly just sit and think. When the whole house was awake, you could always hear either Sasuke and Itachi fighting, or the strange music Itachi seemed to love so much. They were incapable of keeping the house in peace, so she had to find it when everyone was still in a certain state of comatose. She loved her boys, but sometimes she needed some quiet.

So, it had been very surprising when there was a knock on the front door. The sun was only just starting to rise; it was no more than seven in the morning. Mikoto got up from her spot anyway, placing her book down after replacing her bookmark. When she opened the door, she was shocked to find the new girl from down the street standing on her doorstep, her pink hair splayed around her head in a halo of sorts. Mikoto looked down at the girl, trying to figure out what she wanted so early in the day, before inviting her in.

Sakura smiled softly, and gladly walked into the house. She left her trusty all-stars by the door, revealing a pair of black and neon green stripped socks.

"I am afraid that Sasuke-kun is still asleep, so you will have to wait a while. You are more than welcome to stay here until he is up though." Mikoto offered politely, sitting back down at the couch. The girl chuckled a few times before she answered.

"I am not here for Sasuke-kun, Uchiha-san. If you do not mind me doing so, I am going to wake up Itachi." Sakura replied smugly. The older woman blinked in surprise, trying to think of why she would ever brave Itachi's morning moodiness. Was her oldest son afflicted with the young girl who stood in her living room? She wish she had known about their relationship earlier; part of Mikoto swelled with pride because her reclusive son had finally found a decent girl.

"Well, I guess there is no reason for me to stop you, but it would be best if you did wait. Itachi is known to be rather short-tempered in the morning." Mikoto said thoughtfully, watching as Sakura smirked. She apparently was not afraid of her son's awful attitude.

"Do not worry. He knows I am impatient." Sakura said, giving a short bow. She continued from the hall to walk up the stairwell. The upper house was completely silent, everyone in the vicinity being asleep. The door to Itachi's room stood before her, and Sakura giggled to herself. Boy, was he going to be surprised.

Ignoring her mother's demand to go to bed last night, she and Temari (later joined by Gaara, Hidan, Sasori and Deidara) had played an entertaining game of truth or dare. She had chosen truth for the most part, but she had finally got the backbone, and decided to take a dare. Hence, her reason to be the first thing Itachi saw in the morning.

Sakura quietly opened the door to Itachi's bedroom, then closed it behind her. On his bed, his blankets kicked off sometime in the night, lay Itachi, his body curled into a ball and squeezing the life out of his pillow. It was hard for Sakura not to burst out in laughter, seeing him sleeping as soundly as a child. She made her way to his bed, noting his attire, knowing he might be irritated with her for seeing him so revealed. He owed her though, after seeing her in lingerie.

Sakura leaned down next to his bed, observing how at peace he was. She wanted to watch him as he slept so calmly, but she had a dare to complete. Slowly, Sakura tilted her face down to meet his lips with her own. She could think of no better way to wake up in the morning; with a kiss. He stirred, until she had completely coaxed him into chnscienceness, and started to kiss her back. Then he sat up in a jolt.

Itachi flushed slightly, seeing Sakura in his room so early. Then he realized something. He was wearing nothing but boxers, it was highly inappropriate. She laughed at his reaction, kissing him again. He responded in frustration, wanting to know what exactly Sakura thought she was doing in his room. Other than the fact that he was in nothing but underwear, he was more than happy than to wake up with Sakura's lips as an alarm clock.

"Sakura, what exactly are you doing here?" Itachi pulled away, earning a disappointed mewl from Sakura. She blindly sought his mouth again, no where near being ready for him to cut it off yet. He held a hand up, placing a warm finger to her lush lips.

Sakura sighed exasperatedly. "It was a dare from Temari. You owe me though, for that lingerie incident."

Itachi could not deny this, so he readily kissed her again. Without him even needing to ask, she parted her lips to give him entry. He divulged in her mouth, his tongue sliding against hers in a sweet, awakening dance. He tasted her with enthusiasm, until pulling her off the floor and onto his bed.

Neither of them had ever felt more content, until there was a knock on the door, and it opened before receiving an answer. There stood a stunned Sasuke and Mikoto, their jaws lost somewhere on the floor. They had both heard some sort of racket from the room, and now they knew what it was from. Sasuke wanted to die. Perhaps he would find a way to drown in his cereal. Mikoto squealed in excitement. All either Sakura and Itachi could do was gape at their intruders, and blush feverishly.

Sasuke backed away, feeling nauseous. He had come to terms with the fact that Sakura was Itachi's, but he had never wanted to see them in each other's arms again. He was going to need another bout of Lady Gaga if he was going to survive. He went straight to his room, and a few seconds time, a pop beat could be heard. Itachi grimaced at the sound, and quickly countered it by reaching up and turning on _Hawthorn Heights. _

Sasuke heard how his brother turned on his disgusting excuse for music, and turned his own up. Itachi turned up the volume to his own, and this continued until both stereos were on full volume, and no one in the house could think straight. Sakura laughed at the competitive boys, flopping onto her back. Itachi smirked, lowering his face down to hers, pausing a moment before meeting her lips.

"By the way, good morning, Sakura." He whispered.

"Good morning to you too, Itachi." She replied, moving the rest of the distance between them. He smiled in self-satisfaction against her, listening pridefully as she purred in gratification. He loved how he could make her so pleased.

Temari walked down the street, knowing exactly where Sakura had to be. The Uchiha household, with Chicken-ass and her weasel of a boyfriend. She snorted to herself, before approaching the intimidating house. She knocked on the door, and a slight woman with long, black hair came to answer it. She quickly saw where Itachi had gotten his looks from, obviously it was from his mother.

"Would Sakura happen to be here still?" Temari asked, already knowing the answer. Mikoto smiled softly in understanding. Sakura was being called home by her friends.

"Come right in."

Temari followed the sounds of soft chuckling that could only come from Itachi, the almost none existent grumbles she figured was from Sasuke, and then Sakura's giggling. She entered into a roomy kitchen, finding the three of them all at a table, each with a bowl of cereal in front of them.

"Wow, good job Itachi. I have never seen Sakura eat sugary cereal in all of the time I have known her." They both shared a look that said she would explain later, and she took another bite of Fruit Loops.

"I did not know that Sakura was adverse to the awesomeness known as junk cereal." He replied calmly, taking Sakura's example. Sakura rolled her eyes, and watched as Sasuke grunted again in irritation. He clearly was not over her being with Itachi instead of _him._ Sakura did not feel too badly for him though, she had already explained to him how things would go, and so it was his problem if he could not accept it. Sasuke knew that she would let him kiss her when the time came, and it had already come to pass, so he was just going to have to get used to the idea.

"So, who put chicken-butt's panties in a bunch?" Temari asked with the grace and delicacy of an elephant. After observing them all together for a few minutes, she could easily tell he was not supportive of the couple his brother and Sakura made. Both Itachi and Sakura snorted, while Sasuke's expression turned even more sour, if it was even possible.

"We did." Sakura replied through a fit of giggles. Itachi snickered, taking another bite of Fruit Loops. Temari raised an eyebrow and turned to Sasuke for further explanation.

"Sakura decided to give my brother a wake-up call." He elaborated. Temari laughed, turning to Sakura again.

"You completed your dare? I guess that means I should too." She grinned mischievously. Sakura's eyes thinned and she smiled back widely, as if to agree. She sent Sasuke a quick glance, which no one but her and Temari could interpret at that moment. They would understand though, in a few seconds.

"You do not have to do it in here though." Sakura allowed, knowing that Sasuke was going to throw a fit. She did not want her bowl of cereal to go flying. Temari cackled, getting to her feet. Itachi knew Temari well enough from the few days she had so far spent at Sakura's house to assume that all of hell was about to be set loose. He watched as the rebellious girl grabbed his younger brother by the upper arm and pulled him to his feet.

Sasuke did not like how his situation was looking. Temari whisked him from the kitchen table, and now down the hall.

"Remember the requirements!" Sakura called to her friend from the table. Itachi just waited in confusion.

"I am not doing this because I like you, or that I think that you are cute, you got that, chicken-ass?" Temari whispered to him. Sasuke glared, not liking being kept in the dark. He wanted to know what she was going to do that would make him think she liked him. He had no interest in the girl; his heart still belonged to Sakura.

With no further pause, Temari stood on her toes to give Sasuke a wet kiss. He stood there in shock, unable to respond at all. He felt that his mind was disconnected from his body, and that he could not move at all. Sasuke suddenly realized what Sakura must have felt when he had kissed her. It was utter torture.

Temari pulled away, grimacing in disgust. She was just as displeased with the kiss as Sasuke was. He wondered why in the world she had done something so rash, if it was not to enjoy it. Then he remembered what she had said before kissing him.

"Consider yourself lucky; Sakura was being rather nice to dare _me_ to do that. She almost had Hidan or Deidara kiss you." Temari said, leaving him to stand in the hall, utterly repulsed. She rejoined Itachi and Sakura in the kitchen.

"What did he do?" Sakura asked excitedly when she saw her friend back. Itachi waited for the answers to his unasked questions with as much patience that his personality could allow.

"Never, and I mean _never_, make me kiss someone for a dare again." Temari shuddered in distaste. Itachi's eyes widened in surprise. Sakura sure got her revenge when she was wronged, he thought in horror. His pathetic brother was undoubtedly writhing on the floor somewhere, muttering the words to _Bad Romance_ to himself.

"Fine, but did he say anything? Was he angry?" She shook off her friend's abhorrence. Temari sighed, knowing that it was Sakura's revenge more than it had been a dare. Temari could relate to her actions though, she would have done the same thing, if it had been her in the situation.

"He could not say anything. He stood there like a complete idiot."

Itachi was unsurprised. "Sakura. You had your friend kiss my brother to get revenge on him after what he did to you?"

"Of course I did." She retorted, perceptive enough to know that Itachi did not object to her actions. Far from; based on his general hatred for Sasuke, Itachi would praise her actions if anything.

"Nice." He muttered in thought. Sakura laughed, then downed the rest of the milk in her bowl. She gave Itachi a coy smile before kissing him quickly and standing up.

"I have to go. I will see you later, Okay?"

Itachi nodded his head wearily, watching her retreat with Temari shortly behind her. He assumed that she was going to help her poor, abused friend cope with having kissed the likes of Sasuke.

"Later, Sakura." He murmured as the door to the house shut. His mother entered the kitchen, a knowing grin clear on her face. He should have suspected this would happen. His mother wanted to know everything about his relations with Sakura, and would not rest until she knew what she wanted.

"She is cute, Itachi. How long have you two been together?" She asked calmly, sitting across from him at the now empty table. He frowned.

"Probably about a week ago." He replied stiffly. He normally did not speak with his parents unless it was to argue about something. For his mother to want to speak with him was unusual, but he knew it was for good reason. He had never shown his family that he had any partiality for a girl, and now he had.

"How old is she, exactly?"

"She turned sixteen yesterday." He answered. His mother's lips pursed together in disapproval, no doubt due to her age. It did not matter to Itachi that she was around two years younger than him though, age did not amount to much. She was the same age as Sasuke, but she had twice the maturity as him.

"Does her mother know about you two?"

"She does."

Mikoto sighed. She did not like that her own son did not feel comfortable talking to her about girls, but Itachi was not one to open up to anyone. His father, Fugaku was exactly the same. She supposed that she should be thankful that the girl, Sakura, accepted her son, and he was at least able to be himself with her. It was a step for him to end his foolish hiding.

"I wish I had known sooner, Itachi."

"I apologize, Kaa-san." He said, standing from his spot to rinse his bowl out. Without a word, he left his mother in the kitchen, and then went up to his room. On his way, he found Sasuke still standing in the hall, his expression simply mortified. He chuckled and went to his room.

He sighed to himself and walked over to his tank. Shinigami the snake sat there, curled up in comfort. He opened the tank, and let his snake wrap around his arm. It hissed calmly as he stroked its soft belly. He smirked to himself. Life was actually looking up.

**AN: Please review!!**


	13. Chapter 13

Itachi could not believe himself for having forgotten all about it. He had been so happy with Sakura for the past month to remember all the applications he had sent out for college. Now he was rudely awoken, from his first acceptance notification.

It should have been expected, with his almost unusually high grade point average, but the drag down into reality was disheartening. Of course he had gotten into Stanford, with the several advanced placement classes he was enrolled in. It was only a matter of time before he got word from Harvard, or Yale. With his grades, he could get into any school he wished, and he had always been so determined to get into the best. He was on his way to becoming a lawyer, just as he had dreamed of since he got into high school. He could not stop now.

He only had one, small problem; Sakura. She would be happy for him, and encourage him to go and fulfill his ambitions. He could already hear her telling him how proud she was of him. It would not be a lie, she would overjoyed with his accomplishment, but there would be pain underneath that, just barely peaking through her vibrant eyes. He could not let this opportunity pass, and she would not try to stop him, no matter how much the thought of being separated hurt them both.

Itachi sighed to himself, slumping down on the chair by his desk. It was times like these, when he felt like such a fool, that he wanted to smother himself in work. He truly was a fool, for letting himself fall for a girl, only for him to leave her shortly after. Months before, when he had not known Sakura, he had been nothing but anxious to leave home, to get as far away as humanly possible. Now though, that was the last thing he wanted to do.

These thoughts spiraling down through his mind, Itachi took his secret sketchbook out from its hiding spot. He had not drawn in it for quite some time, not since meeting Sakura. His sketchbook had been an outlet for his anger and depression, but after she came along, it had not been needed. She made him _happy_.

He flipped to the last drawing he had worked on, a sketch of raven. Itachi had always had a certain fascination with ravens, with bird in general, for that matter, ever since he was a boy. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that birds had a decided freedom about them, the chance to escape their problems with a flap of their mighty wings, while he did not. Itachi had always had to deal with whatever was thrown at him, whether it be from his parents, or from school.

Itachi looked at the elegant bird, and after a few moments of inspection, he picked up a pencil. The familiar feel of an ebony pencil against the firm paper was comforting, with all the thought of Sakura and having to leave her still distressing him greatly. The glide of the lead along the fine lines of the paper was calming, and as peace washed over him, Itachi watched the raven come to life. If it were possible, Itachi was sure the bird would raise its feathered wings and fly right from that room. He surely wished he could.

Just as he was adding the finishing touches to the raven's beak, there was a knock on his door. Sighing to himself, Itachi reached up to his CD player to turn down the volume. He was sure that whoever it was, they would not appreciate the sounds of _The Used_ when trying to tell him something.

"Come in." He said loud enough to be heard. The door slowly opened, to reveal his mother standing just beyond. She was clutching the house phone, a hand covering the mouth piece.

"Sakura-chan is on the phone, honey." She said softly, appreciating the fact that Itachi had bothered to turn down his music. Itachi stood, then took the phone from his mother. She smiled to herself, watching as he closed the door for privacy. She, not that it surprised him much, approved heartily of Sakura. No doubt, she hoped that now that he had Sakura, he would want to stay in the area. Joining the police force to work along his father was something she wanted for him, though not for the sake of keeping traditions alive. She wanted to see her grandchildren when they came about.

"Hello?" He asked, waiting for a response on the other line.

There was a quick, short spurt of laughter on her side. "Did you just wake up, Itachi? It is almost noon."

_Yes_, he did just wake up, but not in the way she was undoubtedly thinking. He had been woken up by a sobering set of news, that demanded that he leave his home, and the girl he was growing to love. He had to pry himself from everything he was used to, all for the future he had been building for himself since freshman year.

"No, I have been up for a while." He replied. At the moment though, he would much rather be asleep, stuck in his childish dreams with Sakura. He had other ambitions, ones he could not abandon now, after so much work.

"Good, because I am going to come over right now. I want to show you something cool." She said excitedly. He could hear the smile now glowing on her face, right through the telephone connection. Itachi felt a sad grin creep onto his own face. She was going to have to hear the 'good' news, perhaps now, if it was meant to happen.

"Okay, I will see you in a few minutes." He said softly, running a steady hand through his untidy hair. He listened as she giggled to herself, then as the line went dead. He opened the door, to see that his mother was standing there, waiting, and he handed her the phone. She looked up at him hopefully, holding the phone to her chest.

"Sakura is coming over. She should be here in a few minutes." He said before closing the door. He did not wait to hear what she had to say in response, and instead took the yellow envelope with his acceptance letter inside, considering his options.

He could tell her of his achievement immediately, warn her ahead of time of his leaving, or he could hide it. The news would make her sad, which he did not want to happen. It was better for her to remain as happy as she possibly could, for as long as she could. Ignorance was bliss. He was going to have to hide the truth from her, at least until he could not keep it from her any longer.

Just as the doorbell rang, announcing her arrival, Itachi put the yellow envelope in the hiding place he had designated to his sketchbook, in the last drawer, under a false bottom. He did not mind if she saw his drawings, it would not been the first time. He was just going to have to find a temporary home for it when she left, so his mother did not see it.

He heard her steps up the stairs, and before she could even knock, he opened the door. A wide, expectant smile was crossing her face. Her hands tucked behind her back, she reached up to kiss him. It was short and sweet, and just what he had needed to lift his spirits, if only a little.

"Are you going to show me what you have hidden behind your back, or will I have to guess?" He asked, one of his infamous smirks planted on his face. She giggled back up at him, pulling back from him.

"I think I will have to make you guess first, but I do not think you will get it." Sakura replied. His eyes thinned, as he tried to see what was behind her back. She kept whatever it was from his line of vision though, meaning he really was going to have to guess.

"A puppy? A set of earrings? The new album by _My Chemical Romance_?" He guessed at random, to each she shook her head, until she pulled out what was hidden behind her.

"I would rather have a cat, I do not need new earrings, and the album did not come out yet. I got my driver's permit!" She squealed, waving it in his face. He chuckled, then kissed her forehead.

"Congratulations. I am sure Deidara, Sasori and Hidan are overjoyed to hear this new information." He said. Sakura rolled her eyes, remembering the conversation she had with her three brothers the day previous.

"They were simply _ecstatic._" She snickered. "They almost got on a plane to come and stop me. Then I told them by the time they got to America, I would already have my permit. Sasori decided that they should stay in Japan, after I said that."

Sakura's three brothers had not stayed long after her birthday, with two of them needing to return to their art college, and the other being demanded for at his religious group. Temari and Gaara had left at the same time, needing to return to their own schools.

"Be sure to tell Temari that Sasuke is still scarred by the kiss earlier." Itachi said thoughtfully. Sakura laughed, recalling a certain long, giggle-filled night, when they had all made each other do ridiculous things as dares. Of course Itachi had caught wind of this, after being involved in one of them.

"I think she is still brushing her teeth six times a day." She told him knowingly. Sakura could not blame her friend for the extremity, not after her own awful experience with Sasuke. That stupid, forced kiss still made her skin crawl in disgust.

"Poor girl, I would say I feel her pain... but I do not."

Sakura snorted, sitting down on Itachi's neatly made bed. She looked at Itachi, who stood there, looking right back at her. There was something changed about him, she was not sure what, but he was hiding something. He had a certain air of utter exhaustion about him, as if he had been told something terrible. Sakura wondered if someone died. She patted the spot on his bed next to her, silently demanding he sit. He did as he was told, and Sakura soothingly rubbed circles into his back.

"Are you all right, Itachi? You look tired." She murmured. Itachi looked down into her eyes, and saw the concern etched into them. He did not want her worrying over him, but he could not make himself tell her what was happening. Itachi could not bear to even think about the heartbroken, betrayed face she would make when she heard what he had to say.

Itachi sighed. "I am fine, Sakura." She shook her head in disagreement, and her eyebrows scrunched up in anxiety.

"You do not look fine. Cannot you tell me what is wrong? Maybe I can help." She said softly, taking a hand to run her fingers through his long bangs, and out of his face. He caught her hand while it was in mid-motion, and kissed the ivory skin of her silky smooth wrist. She blushed, and looked away before he could see.

"I am fine, Sakura." He repeated, catching the flushed expression on her face before she could turn. He smirked, then continued. "I must not be getting enough sleep at night. Finals for advanced placement classes are early." Itachi lied easily.

While it was true that finals for most of his classes were coming up more quickly than he would like, that was not his reason for being so put out. Him having to go to college was distressing, but he was going to have to hold this in for a little longer, for her sake. She did not deserve for her heart to be broken in two, but she was going to have to hear it eventually.

"Since you have your permit now, do you want to go for a spin in the Audi?" Itachi smirked. She looked at him in horror, afraid to even get _near_ the foreign, stick-shift sports car. Sakura quickly discovered that he was completely serious, just by the daring glint found in Itachi's dark, smothering eyes.

"Itachi, I do not want to crash your car... I have only driven an automatic, and even then, I am not all that good. Besides, I cannot drive with anyone besides my mother until I get my license, so if we got pulled over, you could get into loads of trouble."

"My father is chief of police. They would let us go, not that we would be pulled over. I will be sitting right next to you, and I can take hold of the wheel if I need to." Itachi shrugged, standing up and grabbing his keys. Seeing that she would not go willingly, Itachi had to practically throw her over his shoulder. Like this, he carried her down the stairs, causing Sasuke to freeze in shock from where he stood just outside his bedroom. From there, Sasuke returned to his room to beat his head against something while listening to _Pink_.

Mikoto looked up from her book at seeing her son carrying a very flustered Sakura through the house. She chuckled to herself, but said nothing to them. Personally, she was rather proud of her oldest son, for how much he had progressed socially in the past few months. She no longer had to fret over whether she would ever get grandchildren from him or not.

Outside of the house, Sakura was put down, and Itachi unlocked the Audi TT. She stayed rooted to the spot when she was put, refusing to get near to the car, and its terrifying stick shift. Itachi noted her determination to be difficult, and had to drag her to the driver's seat. Sighing to himself, he opened the door himself, and put her in the car himself. She looked up at him, her eyes reminding him of those of a deer about to be hit by a car. Stiff in terror, she watched as he walked around to the passenger seat.

"Sakura, learning driving a stick shift is an important life lesson. It is better to do this early on, then to wait years into the future to learn. Besides, automatics are boring to drive." Itachi told her. She shook her head feverishly, crossing her arms over her chest. Rolling his eyes, Itachi reached over to turn the key himself. Sakura nearly jumped out of her seat at the sound of the engine starting.

Once the drive was over, Sakura was, ultimately, thankful for the experience. It had been troublesome at first, the car was constantly jerking forward then stopping just as quickly. Itachi at first regretted letting Sakura anywhere near to his precious car, with how many times she was popping the clutch. Eventually, she had gotten used to driving though, and the short trip had ended smoothly. Without Itachi's instruction, Sakura was certain that the drive would not have ended so nicely. In fact, she was sure the drive would have ended with her crashing into something.

"Now that is over, are you glad you gave it a go?" Itachi smirked, opening the door to exit. Sakura laughed, leaving the car herself. She ran around to the other side, where he still stood, and gave him a well deserved hug.

"Thank you, Itachi. It actually was fun, after I got used to it." She said, jumping up to kiss his cheek. He nodded his head, and not appreciating the chaste kiss he had been given, Itachi leaned down to her level for something more proper.

Sakura accepted his lips readily, and when Sasuke looked down to the driveway from his bedroom window, he was horrified to see them eating each other's faces. Sakura's back was pressed against the Audi, while he saw his brother leaning down to her, their bodies molded together heatedly.

As much as he had tried to find someone else, Sasuke was still not over Sakura. No one was quite like her; no one could compare to her. She was so different, so much more special. He could have any girl he wanted, except for her, which was most likely half of the reason why he wanted her so badly. Sakura was forbidden, sweeter than any other fruit, and she would remain as such, even after Itachi left for whatever university accepted him.

Orochimaru-sensei's class sat in almost silence, most of the students dutifully reading their assignment. Sakura glanced at Itachi, who was preoccupied with reading to notice. He was definitely hiding something from her, she was just not sure _what_. He never answered her when she asked, which only served to worry her even more. Her worst fears ran through her head, no matter how unlikely they were. Was he cheating on her? Was that why he seemed so distant?

Tired of waiting for some sort of reassurance from him, Sakura took out a slip of binder paper and a dark purple gel pen. She quickly wrote him a note.

_Itachi, please tell me what is wrong. Is it something I did? I cannot change anything, or help you, until you tell me. I need to know._

With as much discreteness as she could possibly muster, Sakura slipped the note right on top of the book he was supposed to be reading. She watched anxiously as he read it, then as he pulled out a black pen from his backpack. Itachi sighed sadly, rereading her note before answering. It seemed that his escapades where up. His time was coming, and she could not wait any longer.

_It is nothing you did, Sakura. I cannot tell you now, but I will later, I promise. I had hoped to not make a scene of this. You will not like what I have to tell you._

Sakura quickly looked up at Orochimaru-sensei, to check that he was still busy at his computer, before taking the note from Itachi. She glared down at her fruitless results, unpleased that he could not simply come out and say what needed to be said, whatever it was.

_Why cannot you tell me now? I cannot think of anything that would make me cause a scene. Unless... You are not breaking up with me, are you? You are not cheating on me, right? _

She looked away in shame as she handed Itachi back the piece of paper, which he quietly read. Panic rose into his throat. How could she seriously believe he was cheating on her? He could never do something like that to Sakura, he cared about her too much. Dare he think it, he believed himself to be seriously attached to her. Itachi was horrified at the very thought of being with someone else other than Sakura. He had waited too long to tell her, he quickly realized.

_I am not breaking up with you, nor could I ever cheat on you. Sakura, you mean too much to me for me to do such a horrendous thing. I am sorry I confused you about this. Still, now is not the time. Please wait for after school._

Itachi returned it to Sakura, not bothering to check if Orochimaru-sensei was still at his computer. He was too enraptured with their silent conversation to think of being caught. She quickly read what he had to say, pouted, then her purple pen furiously met the paper.

_I am sorry. I know you are not cheating on me. I need to know what you are hiding from me, Itachi. It hurts that you cannot trust me with whatever it is that you will not tell me. I am not a gossip. Whatever you have to say, it will stay between us. I cannot wait for later. I will not make a scene. _

Their eyes met sadly as she gave him the slip of paper, but she was still determined. He sighed, then read her note. Itachi closed his eyes in thought for a minute, letting his thoughts collect. She was right, she deserved to know what was happening, what was going to tear them apart in a few months. With much remorse, Itachi forced his hand down at the paper, writing exactly what she wanted to know, and just what was going to break her heart.

_I have been accepted into Stanford._

Just as Itachi was handing Sakura the dreaded note, Orochimaru-sensei seemingly materialized between their desks, and he snatched the paper. Sakura blushed at the idea of Orochimaru reading their notes, while Itachi blanched. He knew well enough the kind of teacher Orochimaru was; he had to expect the worst, that he would read them aloud. It sickened him that his creepy English teacher was going to know about his acceptance before Sakura. No doubt, he would turn it into an ordeal.

"So, it seems that we have at least one good student in this stupid class. I was afraid that you were all completely worthless." He sneered, calling the attention of all the students. Itachi rubbed the bridge of his nose, knowing what was coming next, while Sakura looked back and forth between Orochimaru-sensei and Itachi, not understanding. She did not have to wait long for an explanation.

"Congratulations, Uchiha, for making it into Stanford. It seems that I did something right, even if everyone else in here will not get into our local community college, with their brainlessness." He snickered, returning to the front of the class, the sheet of paper still in hand. A few students, who were sitting near him, gave Itachi a pat on the back, or looked at him in awe. Itachi was too busy trying to figure out how to control the situation. Orochimaru-sensei stood in front of the room, with the notes he had written entirely for Sakura's viewing only, while Sakura was staring at him in shock.

"For being such an overachieving know-it-all, I will not read everyone the little love notes you wrote to Haruno, but next time I catch you, I will make you both stand and read them yourselves." Orochimaru-sensei cackled, crumpling up the paper and then tossing it into the trash can. Both Sakura and Itachi nodded their heads, agreeing to his demands, and watched as he turned back to his computer.

Sakura did not comprehend why Itachi was so concerned about telling her he had gotten into Stanford. She was nothing but proud of him, amazed that she had such a smart boyfriend. Then she realized how far away Stanford was. He was going to be six hundred miles away from where they lived, six hundred miles away from her. He was not breaking up with her, but he was going so far away, so there would no longer even be a point in being together. She knew well enough what happened to long distance relationships.

He was leaving, going to accomplish his dreams. She could not stop him, she dared not prevent him from going. This was a wonderful opportunity for him, and she had to support him with all that she was, but the thought of being stuck at their school without him; it terrified her.

Itachi watched mournfully as Sakura raised an unsteady hand to catch the teacher's attention. Orochimaru-sensei quickly saw this, and waited for her to say something.

"Orochimaru-sensei, can I use the restroom?" She asked numbly.

"Take the pass." He replied uncaringly. She stood from her desk and slowly walked down the isle, concentrating on her feet, being sure that she did not trip. She felt so disconnected, so stunned that she feared that she would. Sakura grabbed the pink pass sitting on Orochimaru-sensei's desk and slowly walked out of the room, sparing Itachi one, tear-filled glance.

Sakura managed to walk all the way down the empty hall to the women's restroom before letting herself go. Clutching a sink for support, deep, choked sobs vibrated from the bottom of her chest, shaking her entire form. She looked into the mirror, and was disgusted with herself. She was supposed to be happy for him, she should have been giving him a congratulatory kiss on the cheek right then, not watching as her mascara and eyeliner ran down her cheeks.

For the first time in a long while, Sakura felt absolutely alone. Her only comfort was the short months she had left with him, until he left her to fulfill his ambitions. These thoughts were not enough to stop the tears from falling.

**AN: Okay, seriously? You guys left me THREE reviews last time!!! I almost want to cry. Can you guys leave me something more this time, or will you be bodily injured to leave me a review?! I am hurt. T^T **


	14. Chapter 14

At this point, Itachi was throughly concerned, and for good reason. Sakura had disappeared altogether after English, and he could not find her anywhere. Lunch had been lonely without her, sitting in their little 'emo-pit,' where they had graffitied their names once to claim ownership. Now school was over, and he had not seen her in any of their joint classes. Like every day since their getting together, he had driven her to school, and now he wondered how she was going to get home, if she did not show up.

He trudged across campus, after checking all of her likely hiding spots, and went to see if she was on any of the buses. Unfortunately for him, because he had spent the last fifteen minutes searching potential hiding spots, the buses were already gone by the time he reached the pick-up area. Sighing in defeat, Itachi walked to the student parking lot, finding that his Audi was one of the few cars left. A small, nudging part of him said that this whole situation was his fault, and that he should never have pursued her. Sakura was going to be miserable when he left for Stanford, and he had no doubt that Sasuke would jump at the opportunity he was now given.

Itachi sank into the black leather of the driver's seat, and allowed himself to stare blankly out of the mostly clean windshield. He was tired, and everything felt so surreal. He still had so many questions for Sakura, some of them he was uncertain whether he could approach her about or not. What had happened on her date with Sasuke? Why had she always refused to eat junk cereal? How had her father died? What did she want to do with her future? Would she ever move back to her friends in Japan? The list went on, and he was unsure how to ask any of them.

After ten minutes of pondering, Itachi put the key into the ignition, then turned it. The engine purred to life, followed by his CD player seconds later. He turned the volume to _A Day to Remember_ down, so it was more in the background than anything else. Itachi shifted into drive, then smoothly pulled out of the parking lot. The drive home felt silent and empty, despite the music playing, and Itachi knew it was because of Sakura's absence.

He turned into the street he lived on, and deliberately drove past his house. Itachi instead parked on Sakura's driveway. Almost cautiously, he walked up to the front door and rang the bell. He waited for a few seconds, before Sakura's blue haired mother opened the door. Her mouth instantly pursed together, making the piercing below her lip jut out.

"So, you are the cause of all this." She stated calmly, with a terrifying aura swirling about her Itachi shut his eyes in an attempt to calm his surging headache, and then sighed. He now understood why his father had hired the woman, she was downright scary.

"Yes, I need to speak with Sakura about it." He replied. Konan frowned.

"I have not seen her cry like that since her father died. What the _hell_ did you do to her?" She asked fiercely. Itachi flinched at her words, not realizing that the reaction she had was so negative.

"I was accepted into Stanford." He replied softly, his eyes drifting downward. Instantaneously, Konan understood why her daughter was so upset. Sakura could never ask Itachi to stay behind for her, it would prevent him from a proper future and she would never forgive herself if she did. Still, for Sakura to be so throughly attached to the boy, it was somewhat frightening. What would happen to her when Itachi did leave for college? She would be just as broken and lost as before.

"Come in, Itachi-kun. I was about to bring Saku-chan some tea, but I think you should instead." Konan murmured, stepping aside to give him room to enter. Itachi nodded in agreement, and followed Konan into the neat kitchen. She handed him a little tray, where a steaming cut of green tea sat, waiting to be brought upstairs to Sakura.

Slowly, he walked up the stairs, and stood in front of her door. Sighing for the up-tenth time that day, Itachi knocked on the door, and then waited. He wondered if she would let him in, once figuring out who he was. Whatever the case, he was certain she would not be pleased to see him, after succeeding to avoid him throughout the school day. Itachi listened as a pair of feet shuffled in the room, moving to answer him, and then as the doorknob quietly clicked when she opened it.

Sakura stared up at Itachi in shock, not having expected him to be the one standing there. she was a complete mess; a mix of eyeliner and mascara flowing down her pale face in steady streams. Embarrassed by her pathetic state and angry that he had the gall to face her after what he did, Sakura quickly started to shut the door. He, however, caught it with his foot before it closed.

"Sakura, we need to talk about this. Do not make it more difficult than what is necessary." Itachi said stiffly, walking into her room and then holding her tea to her. She sent him a subtle glare, but took the cup anyway, and sipped carefully at the hot tea, being cautious to not burn her tongue. Satisfied with the temperature, she set the cup down on her desk.

Like he had the first time he entered her room, he looked at the collage of pictures she had of friends of family. There was a frame, he noticed, that was facing downward. Itachi reached over and picked it up, and realized it was a picture of them, taken by Temari on the night of her birthday party. Sakura looked away in shame, humiliated by her childish actions, and distressed by his intense glare.

"Is it all suddenly over now? Is that what you have decided?" Itachi asked, his voice hard. He was struggling to even speak to her.

"Itachi, long distance relationships do not work. What makes you think ours would?" She asked, trying to hold back her tears. Itachi placed the frame on her desk properly, and then stretched out to her. He cupped both of her cheeks, forcing Sakura to look him fully in the eyes.

"Instead of trying, you concluded that we were over with, without even thinking to consult me. That will not do, Sakura." He said, his voice remaining as calm as it always was. His indifference made her angry, and her eyes flashed with fury.

"You think I am fine with you going without saying anything to me? You should have told me about Stanford as soon as you found out, but _you_ decided without me to be secretive! Have you any idea how much it hurt to find out you did not trust me enough to tell me you were accepted? If I am not reliable enough to you to tell things like this, then it really _is_ over!" Sakura shrilled, trying not to choke on sobs.

"It is not over, Sakura. I will not let you do this." Itachi said, using his thumbs to wipe away her tears. She reached her hands up to grab his white, button-up shirt, and pull him closer to her.

"Then why could you not tell me sooner? It felt like I was utterly betrayed when Orochimaru-sensei knew about your acceptance before I did! I should have known before anyone else!" She continued to yell.

"Sakura, you do not understand, I-

"No, I do not understand! I wonder why that is, Itachi! Here is a thought, _maybe _it is because you do not bother to tell me anything! What the hell do you expect from-

"I did it for you, Sakura."

Her eyes widened in absolute rage, and Itachi was certain she would explode from her anger. "For me? You pulled this shit for me? Why the hell did you even bother!"

"Do you think I want to see you miserable for the next month? Of course I do not! I cannot believe you think I did not tell you because I could not trust you! I trust you more than anyone else in my life; Sakura, I care about you more than I do myself! I do not want to leave you yet, because... I love you, Sakura!" He shouted back, showing more anger than she had seen in him before. A moment later, she processed what he had just said, and her fury simmered down. Sadness and pure joy overtook her.

"I love you, too, Itachi. I have, ever since the day you found me throwing up in the bathroom." She mumbled back, trying to hide her face into his chest. He smiled sadly down at her, still holding her face in place. Seeing her acceptance, Itachi slowly leaned down and stole her lips. Eyes hooded by comfort and need, Sakura opened her mouth for him, and instantly, his tongue slipped in to glide heatedly against her. It was slow and passionate, neither of them feeling the need to rush themselves.

A long while later, once Konan was beginning to notice how unusually quite it was upstairs, Itachi pulled away, then licked her lips clean of saliva. She blushed at the gesture, and sighed, feeling slightly content.

"I do not think you would care so much if you did not love me, Sakura." Itachi whispered, kissing her face repetitively.

"I am afraid, Itachi. There will be so many beautiful girls at Stanford. What if you find someone else? I do not think I would be able to handle it if you did that." She muttered, her face scrunched up in worry. Itachi shook his head, more worried about what his younger brother would do while he was gone.

"Do not take my feelings for you so lightly, Sakura. I am determined to return for you, whether you will want me to or not." He replied sincerely. Sakura glanced away, to the picture of them sitting on her desk, biting her lip nervously. She knew that _she _would always feel as she did when it came to Itachi, but she was not so convinced that Itachi was the same.

"When I said I loved you, I meant it. I do not like that you are belittling my confession, Sakura." He muttered, kissing the bridge of her nose. A pleasant flush showed on her face, and Itachi chuckled a few times at her modesty, and then the room was silent.

It was then that Konan knocked on the closed door, uncertain with how quiet it was inside. Itachi dropped his hands from her face and handed her a tissue from her desk. Sakura took it gratefully, and while wiping her face clean, called for her mother to come in. Konan poke her head in, assessing the situation, and after seeing they were not doing anything she could object to, she closed the door again.

"I think that is the hint that I should leave." Itachi said slowly, leaning over to give her one more kiss. It was short, and after he pulled back, she smiled to him softly, then watched him as he left. Nothing was going to be the same without him, and she would be lonely when she returned to school, but Sakura knew that she could not give up yet.

Itachi drove his Audi the short trip down the street to his house, and then sighing, went straight to the kitchen. As was expected, his mother was sitting at the family table, reading something and sipping at some tea. She looked up from her home magazine, and smiled at seeing her reclusive son standing before her.

He knew she was not going to be happy about what he had to say, but he knew that he had to tell his family about Stanford soon, before they started doing things for him on their own. He already knew his father was fully prepared to hire him at the station, even though he knew Itachi did not want to be an officer.

"Kaa-san, we have to talk."

...

Today was the day, Sakura thought sadly, sitting up in bed. Her last month with Itachi had been only a bittersweet happy, both of them knowing what lay ahead. Sasuke had been almost gleeful at the news of Itachi leaving, but he said nothing about it. Sakura knew what he was going to pull as soon as Itachi was gone, and she was not going to allow it.

She pulled the covers off, and then tore her clothes away. He was leaving in only a little while, driving his Audi north to Stanford, and taking most of his belongings with him. He already had a dorm room waiting for him, and he planned to spend most of the summer there; he was getting a job and earning as much money he could while he did not have to study. She wished he did not have to leave early, but she understood at the same time.

Smirking slightly to herself, Sakura opened her closet, and as a parting gift, she pulled on one of her many lacy, black dresses, and then a pair of knee-high combat boots. Inspecting herself in the mirror, she smiled at the reflection, knowing that it would please him. She tied a satin ribbon into her pink hair, and feeling satisfied with her appearance, she left her room.

Konan, who decided to see Itachi off with her daughter, had pulled on one of her own black dresses, only instead of the combat boots, she had gone with the long socks and dress shoes. Sakura laughed at seeing her mother, and with arms linked, they walked outside. Few people were out yet, but those who saw the mother-daughter duo could not help but to stare at their gothic lolita fashion.

Knowing Mikoto's adversity to Harajuku, Sakura was the one to knock on the door. This was the first time Mikoto had the displeasure of seeing Sakura dressed up, but she was even more surprised at seeing Sakura's mother had followed her daughter's example. Trying not to stare, she opened door for them both. Sasuke, who had been sitting on a couch, texting on his cellular phone, openly gaped at them both.

"Hello, Sasuke. It is a good morning, is it not?" Sakura laughed, seeing how his jaw was now somewhere lost on the floor. Mikoto gave her son a warning look, and Sasuke turned back to his phone screen, grumbling to himself incoherently.

"Sure, good morning to you too." He muttered. Sakura hoped he might have changed his mind about stealing her from Itachi while he was gone, but doubted it, after seeing how his eyes had roamed her revealed legs. Thankfully, she was a black belt. Perhaps she would need to remind him of that some time soon.

"I see you dressed up for me." Itachi stated, appearing in the room. Sakura giggled, and nodded her head excitedly. He snorted at seeing Konan had dressed up for the occasion as well. He gave her a quick, chaste kiss, and then sighed.

"Is this the one I have not seen yet?" He asked slyly, giving Sakura an approving look over. She laughed, then told him it was. Itachi smirked, glad to see Sakura in her element, for the last time for a while. Sometime, he decided, they were going to have to take a trip to Japan together. It would be fun to see Harajuku with her.

"Is it safe to guess you will be stealing my job at Hot Topic?" He asked. Itachi could easily imagine what the manager would think, seeing Sakura dressed up. She would be hired almost immediately, without so much as an interview.

"Employee's discount." Was her answer. Itachi chuckled, then turned to look up at the wall clock. It was already nine-thirty, he realized with a sigh.

"Is it time to go, honey?" Mikoto asked softly. Itachi nodded his head, and looked down at Sakura's distressed expression. They had both been hoping for a longer goodbye, but he wanted to get to Palo Alto before it was too dark. The drive could take up to twelve hours, and he wanted to get there early enough to check into his dormitory.

Sakura silently followed behind Itachi as he took a last, quick look about the room, and then walked out. Mikoto, Konan, and Sasuke out of obligation, filled out of the house after them, and watched as Itachi opened his car door. He stood there for a moment, looking around the quiet neighborhood for what would be a long time, and then looked at the group standing behind him to say their goodbyes.

His father was not present, not that Itachi had been expecting him to be. Fugaku had never approved of his son's becoming a lawyer, and so he had not felt the need to consent to his leaving by being there. Itachi was unperturbed by this.

His mother gave him a tight hug, and then kissed his cheek, and then Sasuke grunted faintly. Itachi glared at his younger brother, then told him fiercely, "Stay the hell away from my girlfriend, or I will skewer your stupid ass." Mikoto gave him a reproving look for his colorful vocabulary, but said nothing. She was confident that he would return home eventually, for Sakura.

Konan laughed at his possessiveness, and gave him a knowing smirk. "Be good, you punk." She said, giving him a peace sign. Rolling his eyes, he returned the gesture.

Last of all, Itachi turned to Sakura. She was trying to hold back her tears, and Itachi knew that all restraint would be lost as soon as he was gone. Wordlessly, he motioned her towards him, which she instantly did. Sighing sadly, he wrapped his arms around her slight body, and she clutched him in return. He had not initially planned this, with his family and her _mother_ standing there, but he could not leave her without any true promise.

Not caring that everyone would see, he hitched her up closer to his face, and there lips met. At first, she was uncertain, with everyone watching in bewilderment, but when his hot, wet tongue glided along her bottom lip, begging for entrance, she dared not refuse him. Sakura parted her lips, and they both instigated one, last battle for dominance. Not that she was surprised, Itachi reigned victorious, his teasing mouth consuming her.

It was not until someone cleared their throat in embarrassment, whom they both assumed was Sasuke, that they forced themselves apart. Not caring what anyone thought, Itachi sucked her bottom lip clean of their shared spit.

"I will miss you, Sakura." He murmured, letting his hands fall from where they had been holding her, tangled into her pink hair. Finally, he stepped into the already-open Audi, and turned the ignition. Itachi turned the volume to his radio down, and looked up at her expectantly. She smiled carefully, then leaned down for one more kiss. It was chaste, and more appropriate as a public kiss. Sakura stood again, and then stepped back so he could close the door.

"You better be a good boy, Itachi." She teased, once he had the window down. He smirked back at her, glad that she was not crying. It was better to get false laughter from her than heartbreaking tears.

"If Sasuke is ever too much of a pain in the ass, leave Shinigami on his pillow. I am sure he will _love _that." He winked, putting the Audi into drive. Sakura laughed, already knowing that Sasuke had a deathly fear of snakes, and that was his reasoning for giving her Shinigami.

"I think I can manage much worse than that, Itachi."

"If you think of something worse than that, then I will have to hear about it." He said wisely. Sasuke rolled his eyes, fully nauseated by that point.

"Goodbye." He finally said, starting to roll down the driveway. She whispered it back in return, but she knew he could not hear her. She stood there, and watched as he drove down the street, as he stopped at the corner, and then as he turned into a different street as he made his way to the highway.

It was quiet, the only sound being Sakura's silent cries. When he was out of sight, she utterly broke down. Her arms wrapped around herself protectively, and her entire frame shook with her soft wails. Seeing that Mikoto was not doing much better with her son's departure, Konan mutely took her daughter down the street, and to the safety of their home. Sasuke went back into his living room uncaringly.

It took a long time for Sakura to stop crying, and based on how long it took, Konan knew that Sakura was much worse now then when her father had died. She was uncertain why, but she let her cry it out, until it left her system. Konan hated to see her so broken, but knew that there was nothing she could say as comfort her. Sakura was going to have to heal on her own.

Konan sat in the living room, watching the news, when Sakura finally emerged from her room, her eyes and face red from burning tears, and sat down on the couch next to her. They said nothing for a few minutes, both of them focussing on the television screen, until Sakura spoke.

"Can I spend the summer with Dei-chan and the rest?" She asked softly, not taking her eyes from the hairspray commercial playing.

"I am sure they would love to see you." Konan replied, smiling. She knew that the boys would help her forget, and that it was best for her at the moment.

"Thank you, Kaa-san." She said, her eyes drooping shut. Sakura yawned, and then quickly fell into her own world.

She already knew what would have to happen. She was going to enter her junior year in the fall, and she would have to pull some strings, but Sakura knew that she could do it. Sakura was going to have to graduate a year early.

She knew it was very possible, with how many credits she already had, and that she could take evening classes if she needed to. Getting into Stanford would be harder to do, but with her high marks, it would not be impossible. Sakura was sure she would not survive unless she did this. She did love a good challenge, after all.

Originally, when she moved to America with her mother, she had not intention in getting boyfriend, but it had happened anyway. Even if it was not according to her plan, she was glad it had happened. She would never had gotten over her father's death if she had never fallen in love with Itachi. Sakura was happier than she had in years, thanks to him.

Itachi had told her to not give up on their relationship yet, and so she would not. Even though she knew long-distance relationships almost never worked, Sakura was willing to do whatever necessary to keep what they had.

Until the initial pain subsided though, she needed distraction, served by Harajuku and her 'brothers.' Hence, her need to go to Japan.

Itachi was going to be so proud of her, she knew it, when she entered the illustrious university with only three years of high school under her belt. Until then though, she needed to keep all sanity. Give her a year, and then she would be capable of giving Itachi the surprise of his life.

**AN: I cannot believe it.... There will be only one more chapter after this one! I cannot believe that it is almost over! I would like to thank everyone who has continued to read this so far, and for future readers of this story, I am glad you took the time to read this! Please leave me some reviews!**


	15. Epilogue

Sakura sat at the traffic light in her Suzuki Grand Vitara. After what she was certain was ten minutes, it turned green, and she shifted into drive. Thanks to Itachi, she was no longer afraid of driving a stick-shift, and instead preferred the control it gave her. Sakura eased her foot off the break and accelerated, moving forward through the intersection. A few blocks later, and she could see the campus.

She had shocked the world, and done what should have been impossible. Her junior year had been tediously long, wit her full schedule and night classes on top of that, but she had succeeded. How she managed to maintain her job at Hot Topic and keep a social life was beyond her. Sakura had still made time to think about Itachi, even after all the work she had. Stanford cold hardly refuse her after seeing her determination, despite her being a year younger than most entering freshman.

It had taken six months, but Sasuke gave up on her, and let her leave home. She was thankful he had, because everything she had done had been for Itachi, and he truly deserved someone who could feel the same as he did. Besides, she had not wanted to have to leave a snake on his pillow. He instead changed to see her as a friend, like how Sakura had wanted it from the beginning.

It had been hard; Sakura had not seen Itachi since the day he left, not even when he came home for the Christmas holidays. She had gone to Japan for a week, and they had missed each other by only a few days. Part of her was worried that he had moved on, since the contact between them had been kept minimal. He _still_ did not know about her being there. Sakura had begged that everyone not tell him, she wanted it to be the surprise of his life.

Her silver Grand Vitara pulled into the University's student parking lot, and she instinctively looked around for a familiar, black Audi TT. She already knew that he was only just getting out of his class at that moment, his mother had been thoughtful enough to give her Itachi's schedule. Crowds moved through the parking lot, students going to their respective vehicles. With some difficulty, she parked her Suzuki and got out.

The blatant stares she recieved for her appearance were nothing short of amusing. She had grown out her obnoxiously pink hair for the past year, so she had put it up into a sloppy bun. Shining glass ornaments hung from there, and she wore a decorative comb. During her last visit to Japan, Sakura had bought an intricate kimono to wear for this very occasion. Its silky material was black, with a fiery red dragon wrapping itself around and up her legs, golden flames burning in the background. Itachi had never seen her dressed up like this, and so that was her reason for choosing a traditional look. She honestly felt like royalty.

She was anxious, no doubt about that, but she was excited to see Itachi again after so long. Sakura kept her head high, and clutching her small, drawstring purse, she went to search for him.

When Sakura finally caught sight of him, he was sitting with his back to her, at a round picnic table. He looked like he was extremely concentrated on something in front of him, so much so that he failed to notice the table full of girls behind him, giggling. She frowned, not liking that he let those girls look at him so ravenously, as if it were normal. Sakura supposed that was going to have to change, because she was not going to allow them to look like that at _her_ Itachi.

Boldly, Sakura walked past the girls eyeballing Itachi, her zori clacking against the pavement as she approached, and stood behind Itachi close enough to see what he was doing. He was working in a sketchbook, something she had never really seen him do. She observed as he moved his ebony pencil against the bare, white paper, him remaining oblivious of her presence. Sakura was somewhat shocked he could not sense her; he must have really been in his own world.

Sakura smirked, figuring that she would just have to make him aware of her presence. Besides, she was tired of listening to the annoying girls squealing behind her and muttering something about 'geisha girls.' Sakura inwardly snorted, they obviously knew nothing about geisha, because she obviously was not one, based on how she wore her kimono.

Only slightly nervous, she wrapped both arms around his neck in a friendly hold. Itachi instinctively froze at the contact, looking down at the long sleeves of her kimono in confusion. The group of girls gasped and whined in unison.

"I hope, for your sake, that you were a good boy, Itachi-kun." She breathed into his ear tauntingly in her chirped Japanese. His shoulders slackened, recognizing that voice, and that strawberry scent from anywhere. The corners of his lips twitched upward, trying to resist the need to smile. Instead, he sighed disapprovingly.

"How many times do I have to tell you, we are in America. You should be speaking English, Sakura." He scolded playfully. Itachi turned his head to look into her face, which earned him a feigned pout. Itachi swiveled on the bench he sat at, moving a leg over the seat so there was one on either side.

Immediately, he pulled her to sit in his lap, and found the faint blush teasing her cheeks to be adoring. "I missed you, Sakura." He said, assessing how much she had changed in the short, yet at the same time long, year, wondering what had changed on the inside.

"I missed you too, Itachi." She whispered, her hands running through his silky, slightly longer hair, as if by habit. His restraint utterly nonexistent, his lips reached for hers, stealing them effectively. She smiled against him, pleased that his feelings for her had not changed over the year apart. The group of girls that had been watching Itachi only moments before erupted with wails of self-pity and loss. As if to agitate them further, Itachi ran his tongue along the seam of her lips.

Delighted, she parted her lips for him, and he instantly plunged into her mouth. She mewled in appreciation, and participated in the battle just as wholeheartedly as he did. Not that she was surprised by it, but he defeated her epically, and took control of her tongue, pulling it this way and that with a passion she had not remembered before. Itachi swallowed each of her yearning, desperate moans, feeling that pent up need reappear, after an entire year of it being suppressed and forgotten.

Sakura felt herself grow dizzy, both from his kissing and the lack of air those kissed induced. Seeing his effect on her, he grudgingly moved his mouth from her lips letting her breath. Much to her pleasure and amazement, his taunting lips glided along her jawline and stopping to suck on the sensitive skin beneath her ear. She gasped, then shuddered for a reason that had nothing to do with the cool, autumn air.

"Itachi, people are watching." She said, suppressing a throaty groan. He scowled, but pulled away, knowing she was right. When he looked at the table behind him, it was empty, with not a single giggling girl in sight. This satisfied him almost as much as having Sakura back in his arms, after having wanted to get rid of them for a long while.

His thirst for her somewhat quenched, Itachi's mind began to reel at seeing her there at his university. He knew that the new year for his old high school had already started at least a week ago, and so she was ditching her classes to visit him. He understood her need to see him; several times Itachi had nearly jumped into his Audi to drive home to her, but he had restrained himself, for the sake of his grades. For her to be the one to give in was shocking.

"You should not have come north to visit me, Sakura. I would not wish for your grades to slip because of your little expedition." He scolded in earnest, gaining a smug smile from her for his anxiety.

"Do not worry about that, Itachi. My first class is not until tomorrow." She replied calmly. His eyebrows knitted together in bewilderment as he tried to connect her words to what he knew already. School for her should have started a week ago, but she was unperturbed by the thought of missing her classes. Furthermore, she told him that _her_ first class was not until tomorrow. Did she intend to visit for a few hours and drive back down to make it to class?

"The drive is nearly eleven hours, Sakura. How are you expecting to get to your class on time in the morning?" He asked, glaring at nothing in particular. She laughed, seeing he did not understand yet. She would have to be more precise for him to comprehend what she was hinting at.

"I am not driving back, Itachi. At least not until the holidays."

"Sakura, you are going to drop out if you do not return. you are too smart for something as foolish as that." Itachi chided. Sakura laughed again at his sincerity, knowing he was genuinely concerned.

"What are you going to do then, if not return home? Live with me in my dorm? Go to the high school fifteen minutes from here?" He asked sarcastically, not liking that she was not taking her truancy seriously enough for his opinion.

"Itachi, I do not need to go to high school, and I already have my own dorm."

Itachi blinked. She was staying in a dormitory? Sakura could not have gotten a room at Stanford unless she was _going_ there. Shock overwhelmed him. "How did you graduate with enough credits to get into _Stanford_?"

"You finally caught on! Well, I took a lot of night classes." Sakura snickered, seeing he was slightly disturbed that she had gotten into one of the most prestigious universities in the state a year before when she was supposed to graduate.

"Smart ass." Itachi grumbled under his breath, his pride wounded momentarily by her effortless acceptance into the university. She rolled her eyes.

"Why, Itachi, was that a compliment? I feel so touched." She sneered teasingly, and he knew by her tone that she was joking. He snorted in response to this, then gave her a congratulatory kiss on the cheek. Sakura watched as he gathered his supplies, putting them into a black backpack, and then slid off his lap. He stood, and appraise the elegant kimono she was wearing, observing how it hugged her hips beautifully.

"It seems that I am always showing you around schools, does it not?" He asked, offering his hand. She giggled, recalling when they had first met, in Kakashi-sensei's US History class. He had been infuriated with her that day for volunteering him to do something he would clearly rather not. If she remembered correctly, he had taken her wrist and dragged her to English. That had been their beginning; Sakura trying to annoy the hell out of him, Itachi trying to ignore her and remain invisible.

"I should hope you do not mind showing me around _this _time, after I dressed up for you and everything." She replied sweetly. He rolled his eyes, catching the threat in the undertone of her voice, and assisted her to her feet. She stood slowly, with a certain grace that he did not remember her having. It seemed Sakura had grown into a woman in his absence. He watched awe how her entire body swayed fluidly with each step she took, as if something as simple as walking was a lithe dance. She was stunning to watch.

"There is a cafe just off campus. Do you object to going there first? They make a strong espresso, and have good scones." He suggested. The drive north was long, and she had to be exhausted after being in the car for so long. If she was going to walk around the large campus, she was going to need an energy boost. She smiled, understanding his unsaid concern.

"I wold love some coffee, but before that, do you mind helping me bring my stuff to my dorm?" She asked softly. He nodded his head, and let her take the lead.

"Do you have any roommates?" He asked curiously.

"No, I lucked out and got a room to myself." She replied. He smiled slyly, getting the sudden impression that as soon as they got to her room, the cafe was going to be forgotten, and all thought of walking around the university would be cast aside. For some reason or another, he was fine with this. There was always tomorrow.

The End

**AN: I would like to thank everyone who has read my first completed chapter fic, and I feel it was rather successful, even though I never got up to 100 reviews. You guys are great, and I hope you enjoyed reading **_**Something New**_**. I doubt there will be a sequel, because I like how nicely this ended. I will admit, I had intended to finish the story with a lemon, but I digress. I do not want to change the rating, and I do not think Sakura is ready for that yet. ^^**

**A last second thought- if you liked this story, I have two other chapter fics, and several oneshots. I encourage you to check these out, but be warned. If they are rated M, it is because they have, or will have LEMONS. What can I say? I like sour stuff.**

**Now that I finished this fic, I will be publishing a new ItaSaku multi-chapter fic, so keep your eyes out for it.**

**If you have any ItaSaku oneshot requests, please PM me! And give me one last review for this story. I want it to go out with a bang! -snicker-**


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